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REMARKS 



STATISTICS AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS 



UNITED STATES, 



SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL SYSTEM OF 
AMERICA, HER SOURCES OF REVENUE, &c. 



TO WHICH ARE ADDED 



STATISTICAL TABLES, &c. 



BY 



WILLIAM G. qUSELEY, ESQ. 

ATTACHE TO HIS MAJESTv's LEGATION AT WASHINGTON. 

• • . iooi _ f 

f Piilatreljjfiia: c,v ^ . ,oy 

CAREY & LEA— CHESTNUT STREET 

1832. 



E- /6 S' 



" EUes (les lois) doivent etie ttllenient propresaiipeuple pour leqiiel elles sont I'aitcs, que 
c'est un tres-grand hasard si celles d'une nation pcuvent convenir a line autre. 

" II faut qu'ellcs sr rapportcnt a la nature et an principc du gouvernenient qui est etabli, 
on qu'on veut etablir." — Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois — Liv. I. chap. iii. 



Philadelphia : 
James Kay, Jnn. & Co., Printers, 
. No. 4, Minor Street. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Englishmen are accused by the Americans of 
viewing their country only through a medium of 
strong and generally hostile prejudice, or of describ- 
ing it with intentional misrepresentation. Those 
who are obnoxious to such imputations are little 
likely to allow their justice ; men do not readily 
confess their prejudices, and bad faith is still less easy 
of conviction. In either case, a tu-quoque of mu- 
tual recrimination is generally the only result of 
unmeasured censure. Of any intention to mislead 
the reader of the following remarks, on the subject 
of the United States, I need hardly say tliat I am 
utterly unconscious. The statements now pub- 
lished are, almost without exception, supported by 
the authorities of able writers. Whether I am 
liable to the accusation of prejudice must be de- 
cided by the judgment of others. 

It is allowable, however, to state, that if mycoun- 



IV 

trymen are justly chargeable with suffering their 
opinions to be biassed by the peculiar feelings and 
prepossessions of England, on leaving it for the first 
time, I am less likely than many others to have 
been influenced by such a circumstance. From 
early youth the far greater part of my life has 
been passed out of England, and in the diplomatic 
service of my country ; and before my visit to 
America I had seen most of the countries of 
Europe. 

Yet still it must be confessed that I did not arrive 
in the United States w^ithout having imbibed some 
of those preconceptions on the subject of the 
American political system that are so generally 
current in Europe. Judging from what had been 
witnessed in this hemisphere, it appeared to me that 
whatever might be said of the theory of the political 
system of America, yet in practice it could not 
succeed for any length of time, and that in 
Europe its imitation would be fraught with mis- 
chief and anarchy. 

Those impressions of the practical inapplica- 
bility of the institutions of the United States to 
European nations have not been removed by a resi- 



dence in that country ; at least, the total unfitness 
of a republican government for adoption in England 
still appears to me incontrovertible. But the re- 
sults produced in America^ by her political system, 
are very different from those which one is led to 
expect by the representations of many, and some 
distinguished vs^riters ; and it has been my endeavour 
to point out a few of the reasons and facts which, 
in my mind, produced a conviction that the proba- 
bilities of success to the " great experiment" now 
in progress in the trans-atlantic republic were not 
to be measured by a scale formed from the circum- 
stances of our own country. 

It is not possible in the limits of a small volume 
like this, to give more than an outline of the va- 
rious points touched upon in the following pages ; 
many of the subjects mentioned are but incidentally 
and remotely connected with the nature of my 
profession ; but the no'tice of them may serve to 
direct better qualified observers, in future publica- 
tions on the affairs of America. 

The communication with the United States is 
now so rapid and easy (the voyage often not oc- 
cupying more than seventeen or eighteen days), 



VI 



that travellers may visit the principal cities of the 
Union and return to Europe within the space usu- 
ally allotted for a summer excursion. The facility 
for frequent intercourse betw^een the tw^o countries 
must conduce to mutual advantages: it must, at all 
events, tend to dispel such prejudices on either side 
of the Atlantic as are the result of misconception 
or misrepresentation. Between countries the most 
dissimilar, and which for centuries have regarded 
one another as natural and national enemies, the 
facilities of communication have contributed to ren- 
der the very term "natural enmity" an almost obso- 
lete expression, applicable only to the ignorant and 
impolitic barbarism of past ages. 

Whatever information may be afforded by this 
Essay, or by works of a far higher order, on sub- 
jects connected with America, they cannot tend to 
remove either wilful prejudice, or mistaken impress- 
ions, nearly so well as even a short visit to the 
United States: 

(" Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem, 
Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus;") 

where, whatever deficiencies may be perceived by 



Vll 

those accustomed to the life of an European capi- 
tal, it must be allowed that a wide and interesting 
field is open to the research and observation of the 
statesman, the politician, the philosopher, or the 
practical man of business. 



Although not immediately connected with the 
subject of this publication, I cannot forbear saying 
a few words on a topic deserving of the deepest 
consideration in this country, and of which the 
importance has only of late years been duly appre- 
ciated. The North American colonies furnish 
England with similar, and almost equivalent, advan- 
tages to those which the Americans possess in the 
superabundance of fertile territory, and consequent 
provision for its population generally, but particu- 
larly for the poorer and lower classes of society. 

From my own observations in Canada and Nova 
Scotia, I have no hesitation in affirming, that to a 
moral certainty, — as well ascertained as any circum- 
stance can be by human experience, — the moder- 
ately industrious and sober, however poor, are sure 
of obtaining not only a plentiful subsistence, but 



Vlll 

many comforts to which, in the present state of 
the commercial, manufacturing, and agricultural 
interests, they must in all probability long be stran- 
gers in the mother country. There is but one 
circumstance that might prevent the emigrant 
from realizing these fair prospects, — the loss of 
health. But in a climate so very salubrious as that 
of British North America, the probability of this 
evil is more remote than that to which, under cir- 
cumstances of privation, he would be exposed in 
England. He will also find, I think, that the 
physical and positive advantages are more encour- 
aging to the settler in Upper Canada, &c. than in 
the United States ; independently of the reluctance 
that every right-minded Englishman must feel to 
abandon the colours of his country. He may be 
said to be nearly at home in the North American 
colonies. 

" Coelum non animutn mutant, qui trans mare currunt." 

By facilitating the means of emigration to the 
poorer classes of Englishmen, the British govern- 
ment would, perhaps, contribute as efficaciously 
to their welfare as by the extension of their political 



IX 



rights; and would probably find, in the vast re- 
sources of the North American colonies, a means 
of practically awarding "the greatest share of 
happiness to the greatest number" of our coun- 
trymen. 

W. G. O. 

May 7, 1832. 



N.B. The works and authorities that have fur- 
nished data for these remarks, besides those quoted, 
are the Laws of the United States, American Al- 
manac (Boston), Register of Department of State, 
Sword's Almanac and Ecclesiastical Register, Quar- 
terly Register of American Education Society, 
Statistical Views by Watterston and Van Zandt, 
and American Congressional and State Papers, in 
addition to private notes, &c. 

The tables in the • Appendix do not pretend to 
perfect correctness : w^hoever may make an experi- 
ment in obtaining precise and accurate returns upon 
the subjects here treated, will find that it is neither 
an easy, nor very seductive task. 

B 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER!. 

Introductory. Misconceptions on the subject of America in 
Europe. Contradictory accounts of travellers. Arguments 
suited to European governments not often applicable to the 
United States. Government of that country well adapted to 
the circumstances "of its inhabitants . . . 17 

CHAPTER H. 

Nature of American Republic generally misunderstood in 
Europe. Its dissimilarity to the republics of antiquity, or 
to those of more modern times. Contrast between the 
American republic and that which succeeded the first French 
Revolution. Of a federal union .... 25 

CHAPTER III. 

Supposed defects of American form of government examined. 
Proneness to war. National feelings towards England. 
M. de Talleyrand's observations on that subject. M. Politica. 
Advice of Washington on the foreign policy to be adopted 
by the United States 31 

CHAPTER IV. 

Examination of objections to the political institutions of the 
United States continued. Efiects of very large constituencies 
not such as have been anticipated. Corruption not general. 



xu 

The representative bodies in America not de facto dele- 
gates ......... 45 

CHAPTER V. 

Supreme Court of the United States. Its judicial indepen- 
dence and high character. Diplomatic agents particularly 
interested in its proceedings. Has jusisdiction in all cases 
touching the law of nations. State ''Judiciaries." Asso- 
ciate judges ....... 52 

CHAPTER VI. 

Misrepresentations of the domestic manners of the Ameri- 
cans. Many of the peculiarities of the social system of the 
United States not attributable exclusively to the republican 
form of government. Advantages and defects compared of 
American and English systems .... 60 

CHAPTER VII. 

Financial and general prosperity of United States. Its pecu- 
liar causes considered. Principally attributable to a free and 
protecting government. Mexican and South American re- 
publics compared with the United States. Report of Mr 
M'Lane on the finances of the United States. Opinions, of 
Revue Britannique and Quarterly Review on economy of 
American government ..... 71 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Statements of Quarterly Review on the subject of United States 
examined. Supposed insecurity of property. Conservative 
elements. ........ 86 



Xlll 



CHAPTER IX. 

United States government well suited to the American peo- 
ple. Testamentary disposition not interfered with by the 
laws. Division of property. Conservative principle of 
American government resides in numerical majority. Pub- 
lic lands • . . 94 

CHAPTER X. 

Revue Britannique on Finances of the United States. Letters 
of General Bernard and Mr F. Cooper, published by General 
Lafayette, containing answers to the statements of Revue 
Britannique . . . . . . 102 

CHAPTER XL 

General Bernard's remarks. Department of state and foreign 
affairs. War department. Treasury department. Admin- 
istration centr ale, Sao.. State expenses. Tolls and public 
roads. Clergy. Militia. Summary. Mean expense to 
each individual in France and Ariierica of public charges. 
Extract from General Bernard's letter . . . 109 

CHAPTER XH. 

Captain Hall's estimate of mean charge to each inhabitant of the 
United States. -Mr F. Cooper's remarks on the Revue Bri- 
tannique. Mr Cooper's estimate of mean public charge 

121 

CHAPTER XHL 

Quarterly's remarks on American statistics. General and 
state expenditure. General Bernard's and Mr Cooper's 
estimates . ....... 129 



XIV 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Future financial prospects of the United States. Military ex- 
penses. Naval expenses. Cost of administration of justice. 
Salaries of the clergy . . 136 

CHAPTER XV. 

Ecclesiastical revenues of the United States. Valuations of the 
Quarterly of church of England revenues, and those of the 
clergy of America. Probable real amount of church emolu- 
ments in the United States . . . . 143 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Expenses of administration of justice. Of state judiciaries. 
Some account of public lands, and future intentions with re- 
gard to them .... ... 1.54 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Gold Mines. Mint 169 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Cultivation of sugar in Louisiana. Florida. Slavery 178 

Summary . . 195 



APPENDIX. 



Extract from " Review of Captain B, Hall's Travels" 199 

General Table of all religious denominations throughout the 

United States, specifying the number of ministers, churches, 

communicants, and individuals . . ' . . 207 

General Bernard's comparative statement of the French and 

American budgets ...... 208 

Table showing the number of clergymen and churches of dif- 
ferent denominations in each state of the union, as far as they 
have been ascertained ..... 212 

Table showing the governor's term and salary, the number of 
senators and representatives, with their respective terms and 
pay in the different states . . . . . 214 

Statement, showing the aggregate number of persons in each of 
the states, according to the fifth census, and distinguishing 
the slave from the free population in each state, according to 
the corrections made in the returns of the marshals and their 
assistants by the Secretary of State . . . 215 

Steam-boat navigation from St Louis . . . 216 
Whole number of steam-boats built on the western waters 217 
Expenses to each state of its judiciary, including the territo- 
ries and district of Columbia .... 218 

219 
220 
222 
223 
225 
225 



Colleges in the United States 

Texas ....... 

Payment of the debt of the United States 
Rates of postage ..... 

Newspapers in New York .... 

Copyright ....... 

Number of bishops in the United States, and their residences, 
or diocesses ...... 226 



REMARKS 



THE STATISTICS, &c. 



OF 



THE UNITED STATES 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory. — Misconceptions on the subject of America in Eu- 
rope. — Contradictory accounts of travellers. — Arguments suit- 
ed to European governments not often applicable to the United 
States. — Government of that country well adapted to the cir- 
cumstances of its inhabitants. 

Although the attention of Europeans, since the 
conclusion of the treaty of Ghent in 1814, has 
been directed to the progress of the United States 
of North America with more interest than at former 
periods, and although the rapidly increasing popula- 
tion and resources of the federal union have been 
of late years more justly appreciated than here- 
tofore, yet there is perhaps no country of equal 
importance that is in fact so little known in Europe 
generally. No better proof can be wanting of this 
c 



18 

ignorance in our country, on the subject of 
America, than the conflicting and contradictory 
opinions and reports concerning it that are con- 
tinually made public. Not only the allusions fre- 
quently made in either house of parliament to the 
theoretic tendency and practical effects of her politi- 
cal institutions, but the observations of the daily and 
periodical press furnish ample evidence of the great 
difference of opinion that exists on the advantages or 
defects of her form of government, and its influence 
on the social system in some measure its conse- 
quence. 

That many misconceptions as to the real situation 
of the Americans should be entertained by those 
who have never visited their country is the less 
surprising, when we observe that, even among 
the numerous travellers in the United States who 
have published their impressions of its present con- 
dition, or their views of its future prospects, there 
should be such diversity of opinion, that one is 
sometimes inclined to doubt that the different writers 
are describing the self-same country. This may 
doubtless be said of accounts of other countries ; but, 
where intercourse is frequent, and distance from 
our homes not great, vulgar errors are rectified, or 
prejudiced mistatements contradicted, with greater 
facility and certainty than where that serious 



19 

obstacle to an intimate acquaintance between two 
nations intervenes, viz. some thousand miles of the 
Atlantic. 

Even those rapid improvements in the means 
of communication anticipated by some* sanguine 
authors will not so speedily overcome this natural 
bar to an intimate acquaintance with the American 
continent, as not to allow for many years to come 
a wide field for speculation and theoretical discussion, 
founded on partial and exaggerated statements, and 
unintentional or wilful misrepresentation. 

While one party, zealously admiring the system of 
America, represents the United States as a political 
Utopia, and would wish to transplant her institutions 
and particularly her financial economy to England, 
forgetful of the many circumstances rendering such 
a form of government or any such practical adoption 
of her scale of expenditure undesirable or im- 
possible in this country^ — another set of men are 
unceasing in their condemnation of every thing 
American, describing manifold evils as the present 
effects, and predicting convulsion and ruin as the 
future results, of the mode of government which the 
people of the United States have adopted. In either 
case the ignotum pro magnifico accounts for the 

* Vide M'Gregor's British America, M'Taggart's work, &c. 



20 

exaggerated opinions so frequently, and often con- 
scientiously, expressed on the subject. 

But the opinions of travellers in the United States, 
however speculative, deserve more attention than 
those of men who write by their firesides strictures 
upon countries of which they have no practical 
knowledge, and whose impressions are coloured by 
the prejudices of a party, or their own misappre- 
hensions. Unfortunately, those w^ho have published 
descriptions of America have not generally remained 
there long enough to be enabled to use their judg- 
ment uninfluenced by prepossessions against or in 
favour of the theory or practice of the American 
system; they consequently apply a scale of their own, 
adapted to a country w^idely different in circumstan- 
ces, manners, and institutions, in forming opinions 
of the government and people of the United States. 
The traveller who on first arriving in any foreign 
country should unreservedly commit to paper his im- 
pressions and opinions of its usages or political insti- 
tutions, and endeavour to explain and account for its 
peculiar customs, from his own observations and 
knowledge, and then lay aside his notes during a 
year's residence in the same place, would probably be 
surprised on a reperusal of them at the mistaken 
views that he had in many instances taken; at least I 
have found it so. And if this be true of European 



21 

countries, having generally many features of resem- 
blance, it is particularly so in the judgments passed 
by Europeans on the United States. I am speaking 
now more especially of the political institutions of 
America, but the same remarks are even more strik- 
ingly applicable to the social system of that country. 
It should be recollected that many provisions of the 
constitution of the United States, which to an Eng- 
lishman appear at first sight fraught with danger, will 
perhaps on a nearer examination be found well adap- 
ted to the American Union; for we are prone uncon- 
sciously to apply the arguments that would be good 
in England to a country extremely dissimilar; and 
thus contemplating, with views and ideas suited to 
a very different state of things, particular measures 
or modes of government, it is not surprising that 
our judgments and predictions of their consequences 
should be erroneous. Americans say that we look 
at their republican institutions through our " mon- 
archical spectacles," and that it requires some ap- 
prenticeship to so different a state of things to see 
them in their true light. 

Let us look at the converse of this proposition. 
When an American arrives in England for the first 
time, he is apt to jump at conclusions equally un- 
founded respecting our country. I know what 
were the impressions of some individuals from the 



22 

United States, and men of sagacity and experience, 
on first witnessing the practical workings of our con- 
stitutional monarchy, and the results of our social 
system. And if most Americans were honestly to 
confess their real opinions (formed after only a short 
residence in England) at any period during the last 
thirty years, I am convinced that there are few^ who 
would not avow a conviction of their astonishment 
at the possibility of our government having con- 
tinued to work w^ith any success for five years 
together; but after a residence of greater duration, 
they perceive the existence of counteracting causes 
preventing many of the bad effects which they anti- 
cipated, and even begin to think that the transition to 
a form of government like their own would neither 
be so easy nor so advantageous as they previously 
believed. Americans are eminently practical men; 
all their undertakings, and generally all the measures, 
whether of governments or individuals in that coun- 
try, are stamped with utility as their object, and 
dicated by sound practical good sense and prudence. 
They consequently quickly detect the wildness and 
absurdity of many of the republican theories of 
those Europeans, who would seek to adopt forms of 
government totally unfitted for the circumstances of 
their country; — and soon adapt their views to the 
peculiarities of the political atmosphere in which 
they find themselves. 



23 

Englishmen do not, I think, so readily divest them- 
selves of their preconceived ideas when reflecting on 
the situation of America, and are apt to continue 
bigoted in their own hypotheses, notwithstanding 
the frequent contradictions from facts and practical 
results to which they are continually subjected. It 
would be difficult otherwise to account for the 
erroneous views that are so often taken of the 
American republic ; and for the condemnation of a 
system pursued with such remarkable success in one 
country, because it is not adapted to the circum- 
stances of another. 

As all human institutions carry with them from 
the first moment of their origin the seeds of their 
own decay or dissolution, it would be folly to expect 
that the American constitution should not share in 
the general imperfection of our nature. But so far 
from considering the political system of the United 
States as peculiarly fraught with danger to its own 
existence, and built upon imprudently slight founda- 
tions, I conceive it to be better adapted for the 
security, good government, and welfare of the 
American people, than any which could perhaps, 
under their peculiar circumstances, have been con- 
ceived; indeed this opinion is supported by the 
authority of writers by no means friendly to popular 



24 

governments.* The constitution of America was 
the work of the combined talent and experience of 
men of sagacity and information, well acquainted 
with the wants and habits of their own country, and 
not ill versed in the theories or practices of others ; 
and they constructed their institutions upon a foun- 
dation of experience and practical ability, to suit the 
peculiar circumstances of their countrymen. Hither- 
to their system has worked wonderfully for the pros- 
perity of the United States, and it is not one of its least 
advantages that any necessary change or amelioration 
is foreseen and provided for with such careful pre- 
cautions and restrictions, as prospectively secure a 
remedy for future wants or changes of circumstance. 
It appears, I think, likely to last, and adapt itself to 
the mutations brought on by the lapse of years, with 
at least as fair a prospect of success as the nature 
of most human institutions can promise. 

* Vide Quarterly Review, No. XCII. p. 585. " It is a scheme, 
indeed, with which the Americans may well be content ; for one 
better fitted to their situation it might not have been very easy, if 
possible, to devise." 



25 



CHAPTER II. 

Nature of American republic generally misunderstood in Europe. 
— Its dissimilarity to the republics of antiquity, or to those of 
more modern times. — Contrasts between the American repub- 
lic and that which succeeded the first French revolution. — Of 
a federal union. 

1, 

The name of republic, or rather the associations 
connected with that title, may go a great way in 
accounting for the misconceptions and prejudices 
with which all considerations of the government of 
the United States are observed. Most of our recol- 
lections of school and college connected with the 
word republic, present the classical images, but really 
rude and uncivilized habits, of Sparta, the vices and 
defects of Athens or Lacedemonia, or the fluctuating 
and turbulent aeras of Rome. Whatever may have 
been the boyish enthusiasm \m favour of those 
governments of antiquity, inspired by the nature of 
our early course of education, there are few of us 
who have assumed the toga of manhood without 
discovering that no forms of government could be 
well imagined less adapted to the wants, the habits, 
or the religious lights of our own country in the 
present day, than the political systems of Greece or 

D 



26 

Rome ; and that they would be as little suited to 
work well in modern times, as the forms of their 
mythological divinities would be to decorate an 
altar in our temples. We soon perceive that the con- 
tinual internal warfare and divisions of the rival pet- 
ty states of Greece were as unlikely to conduce to 
the happiness of mankind as the continual struggles 
between the patrician and plebeian parties in Rome. 

The name of republic, as applied to the govern- 
ments of Italy, contributed still farther to the con- 
demnation of that form of government. The 
patricians and princely merchants of the north of 
Italy might wear the mask of republicans for the 
support of their anomalous or commercial oligarchies 
— with almost equal justice might the East India 
Company's government at Calcutta be called a 
republic, at least as that term is understood in 
America; and the former government of Holland 
is scarcely less dissimilar. 

But" general opinion as to the nature of the 
government of the United States has been more 
influenced by the misnomer of republic having been 
assumed by the sanguinary and tyrannical leaders of 
the French revolution of the last century, than by 
any of the foregoing attempts at popular govern- 
ments in the annals of history. When the word 
republic is mentioned, straightway a train of horrors 



27 

is called up in the minds of most Europeans. 
Murder, rapine, violence and anarchy, and all the 
accompaniments of the reign of terror, with atheism 
and sacrilege at their head, are conjured into 
existence, and crowd the picture which we draw of 
the effects and nature of a republican government. 

Locke advises us to take care accurately to define 
words, by which means we shall avoid much dis- 
puting about things. If the word republic be ap- 
plicable to any of the governments alluded to above, 
and particularly to the monstrous and impracticable . 
attempt of the French Jacobins, then is the govern- 
ment of the United States not a republic, but re- 
quires some other designation. 

Instead of sanguinary executions and injustice, w^e 
find in America a penal code singularly mild, and cau- 
tious to an extreme in taking away human existence; 
a system of punishment framed with a view to the 
prevention of crime, and not in a vindictive spirit; 
and adapted for the reclamation of the criminal 
rather than for his destruction.* Instead of spolia- 

* The excellent of the penitentiary system of the United States 
has been frequently noticed by late travellers in America. The 
penal laws are sometimes blamed by the advocates of a Draconic 
code as being too mild. The following extract from a report of 
the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline is better 
than a comment upon the results of the different systems: — " The 
amount of crime in proportion to population is as follows: — In 
England, 1 criminal in 740; Wales, 1 in 2320; Ireland, 1 in 490; 



28 

tion or pillage, we see no country in which the pos- 
session and disposal of property are better protected, 
or its acquisition by judicious industry better assur- 
ed. And above all, there is no country in which re- 
ligion and its ministers are more generally respected 
and supported by the mass of the population, although 
without compulsory provision, and where the lives 
and example of the clergy more nearly approach to 
those of their great primitive models.* 

In examining the nature of the transatlantic re- 
public, we find not the astute tyranny of an Italian 
aristocracy, nor the abuses of usurped power; neither 
do we witness the conflicts between an insatiate 
populace and a proud and unfeeling nobility, as in 
Rome ; while the internal struggles, the want of 

Scotland, 1 in IISO; Denmark, 1 in 1700; Sweden, 1 in 1500; in 
New South Wales, 1 in 22; while in the United States it is 1 in 
3500." 

* " We had abundant ocular demonstration of the respect paid 
to the subject of religion;" — " scarcely a village, however small, 
without a church," &c. — Vide Capt. B. Hall's Travels in United 
States^ Vol. I. p. 151, and elsewhere. 

With regard to the accounts lately published by a female trav- 
eller in America, if we were even to allow that they are faithful 
descriptions, and not satirical caricatures, it would be about as 
fair to estimate the church system of England by the proceedings 
of a meeting of Jumpers or Ranters in some remote village, or by 
the hallucinations of the followers of Johanna Southcote, as to 
judge of the ministers and followers of different denominations in 
America by the representations of Mrs Trollope. 

Some account of the revenues, &c. of the clergy of the United 
States will be found in a subsequent chapter. 



29 

unity and force, are obviated by a federal* union, 
unknown to the republics of antiquity. 

We may perhaps expect, arguing from what we see 
of the violence of contested elections at home, that 
they must, a fortiori^ be attended with tumult and 
riot a thousandfold worse in a country where some- 
thing nearly approaching to universal suffrage exists, 

* Paley thus speaks of a federal republic : — " We have been 
accustomed to an opinion, that a republican form of government 
suits only with the affairs of a small estate." After then enu- 
merating several of the objections usually urged against republican 
governments, he proceeds : — 

" Add to these considerations, that in a democratic constitution 
the mechanism is too complicated, and the motions too slow, for 
the operations of a great empire, whose defence and govern- 
ment require execution and despatch, in proportion to the mag- 
nitude, extent and variety of its concerns. There is weight, no 
doubt, in these reasons, but much of the objection seems to be done 
away by the contrivance of a federal repuMic, which distributing 
the country into districts of a commodious extent, and leaving to 
each district its internal legislation, reserves to a convention of 
the states, the adjustment of their relative claims ; the levying, 
direction and government of the common force of the confede- 
racy ; the requisition of subsidies for the support of this force ; 
the making of peace and war ; the entering into treaties ; the 
regulation of foreign commerce ; the equalization of duties upon 
imports, so as to prevent the defrauding of the revenue of one 
province by smuggling articles of taxation from the borders of 
another ; and likewise so as to guard against undue partialities 
in the encouragement of trade. To what limits such a republic 
might, without inconveniency, enlarge its dominions by assuming 
neighbouring provinces into the confederation ; or how far it is 
capable of uniting the liberty of a small commonwealth with the 
safety of a powerful empire ; or whether, amongst co-ordinate pow- 
ers, dissensions and jealousies would not be likely to arise, which, 
for want of a common superior, might proceed to fatal extremities ; 



30 

whereas we find that, compared with our assemblies, 
the elections of the United States are order itself, 
pelting, mobbing, or brawling, are almost unheard 
of on such occasions, and more than all, there is lit- 
tle or no bribery, or possibility of succeeding merely 
hy dint of money, 

are questions upon which the records of mankind do not authorize 
us to decide with tolerable certainty. The experiment is about to 
be tried in America upon a large scale."— Vide Paley, " Of Dif- 
erent Forms of Government,''^ chap. vi. 



31 



CHAPTER III. 

Supposed defects of American form of goverment examined.— 
Pi-oneness to war. — National feelings towards England. — M. 
de Talleyrand's observations on that subject. — M. Politica. 
— Advice of Washington on the foreign policy to be adopted by 
the United States. 

Many objections have been made to the political 
system of the United States, founded generally upon 
certain theories, or deduced from observations on the 
results of governments called republics that have 
already existed. The principal defects attributed to 
the form of . government adopted in America are 
these : — that the preponderance of the democratic 
party in the state will force the government into wars 
and aggressions upon other countries, particularly 
where national antipathies or predilections exist — 
that the representatives chosen by the mass of the 
people become mere delegates, whose abilities and 
judgments are fettered by the popular will^that 
property must be insecure under such circumstan- 
ces, and that none but men of low origin and unfitted 
for high situations will be elected by the classes for- 
ming the numerical majority of votes in the United 
States — that the judicial powers in the state will lose 



32 

their independence — and that the alleged economy 
of the American government is a delusion which 
only requires some examination of facts to dispel. 
First, as to the warlike propensities attributed 
to republican governments, it is evident that the 
institutions of the United States are not obnoxious 
to an accusation founded upon a supposed resem- 
blance between the United States and the French 
republic of the last century. Capt. B. Hall makes 
some judicious remarks upon this subject when 
speaking of the possibility of a future invasion of the 
Canadas.* A country that, with a population of 
13,000,000, finds a standing army of 6000 menf 
sufficiently large for all its purposes, is unlikely to 
embark in wars of ambition, if even territorial ac- 
quisition were thought requisite for its strength, 
which is certainly not the case with America. For 
the purposes of defensive warfare, there is perhaps no 
country more formidably provided than the United 
States at the present day. In 1827, their militia, 

* See also Paley. " The advantages of a republic are, liberty, 
or exemption from needless restrictions; equal laws ; regulations 
adapted to the wants and circumstances of the people j public 
spirit; frugality; avcrseness to war, c^c." Paley on Different 
Forms of Government. 

t It is somewhat singular that the number of pensioners (all 
military, as there are no civil pensions granted in the United 
States) should greatly exceed that of the whole army. They still 
amount to 16,324, principally men who were engaged in the re- 
volutionary war. 



33 

almost precisely similar to the national guard of 
France in its organization, amounted to upwards of 
1,150,000, and all parties agree that few countries 
are better prepared to resist foreign invasion.* 

On the other hand, aggressive wars are little likely 
to be undertaken by a country so opposed to heavy 
taxation as America, and where such powerful ob- 
stacles exist to the dangerous or unconstitutional 
ambition of any military leader. It has been asserted 
that any popular demonstration of national jealousy, 
or dislike of a particular country, would hurry a re- 
publican administration into warlike measures upon 
slight grounds, and that in the United States such 
hostility would be more likely to display itself against 
Great Britain than any other power, from the alleged 
dislike and antipathy pervading all classes towards 
England and Englishmen. The evidence of this 
feeling, as regards individuals, cannot be found in 
many works of late writers, however hostile to the 
political institutions of America ; on the contrary, it 
is only necessary to open almost any chapter of Capt. 
Hall's Travels, of Mr de Roos's or M. Vigne's, &c.,t 

* The Quarterly Review admits this, more suo : " The nation 
may be compared to a great sand-bank, of which all the particles 
may be good enough in themselves, but which, except for the pur- 
pose of destroying any one icko attempts to meddle with them, have 
no principle of joint action," &c. — Vide Quarterly Review, No. 
XCIII. March, on " Domestic Manners of the Americans." 

tCapt. Basil Hall, Vol. III. p. 2. "The same kindness and 
£ 



34 

to find a testimony in favour of the hospitality, the 
ready and obliging assistance, perfect good-will and 
civility generally shown to English travellers, which 
from my own personal experience, and that of my 
friends, I can fully corroborate. It is indeed so 
strong as to have been observed at a period when 
political and national feelings were roused, and not 

hospitality were shown to us here (at AVashington) as else- 
where ;" &c. &c. Further on, " we never discovered the slightest 
diminution of that attention by which we had already been so 
much flattered during the journey;" and many other passages 
might be cited from this gentleman's travels to prove the good 
feeling prevalent towards Englishmen in the United States. 

Mr Stanley, soon after his return from the United States, used 
the following language in the house of commons : — '' So strong 
were the ties of a common origin, that an English gentleman 
travelling in that great republic is sure to meet Avith the most 
hospitable reception, as he well knew by personal experience, that 
great country was proud to acknowledge its relationship to Eng- 
land, and to recognize the love and attachment it yet felt to the 
mother country, and would feel for ages." 

Capt. de Roos thus expresses his opinion on this subject :— 
" Nothing can be more unfounded than the notion which is gene- 
rally entertained, that a feeling of rancour and animosity against 
England and Englishmen pervades the United States." 

" Though vilified in our journals, and ridiculed upon our stage, 
they will be found upon a nearer inspection to be brave, intelli- 
gent, kind-hearted, and unprejudiced ; though impressed with an 
ardent, perhaps an exaggerated, admiration of their own country, 
they speak of others without envy, malignity, or detraction." 
And again : — ' One introduction is sufficient to secure to an 
Englishman a general and cordial welcome." — '' At New York 
the character of an Englishman is a passport," &c. — " At a pub- 
lic table d'hote^ we were treated with the greatest civility by the 
promiscuous party, who drank the king''s health out of compliment 
to our nation," &c. &c.— Vide also M'GrCgor, &.c. 



35 

unjustly,* and the passions enlisted against Eng- 
lishmen by the unfortunate effects of warfare with 
other powers. 

* " To place the full annoyance of these matters in a lighttobe 
viewed by English people, let us suppose that the Americans and 
French were to go to war, and that England for once remained 
neutral — an odd case, I admit, but one which might happen. 
Next, suppose that a couple of French frigates were chased into 
Liverpool, and that an American squadron stationed itself off that 
harbour to watch the motions of these French ships, which had 
claimed the protection of our neutrality, and were accordingly 
received into ' our waters,' I ask, ' would this blockade of Liver- 
pool be agreeable to us, or not ?' 

"Even if the blockading American frigates did nothing but 
sail backwards and forwards across the harbour's mouth, or oc- 
casionally run up and anchor abreast of the town, it would not, 
* I guess,' be very pleasant to be thus superintended. If, however, 
the American ships, in addition to this legitimate surveillance of 
their enemy, were to detain off the port, with equal legitimacy of 
usage, and within a league or so of the light-house, every British 
ship coming from France, or from a French colony, and if, be- 
sides looking over the papers of these ships, to see whether all 
was regular, they were to open every private letter, in the hope 
of detecting some trace of French ownership in the cargo, what 
should we say ? And if, out of some twenty ships arrested daily 
in this manner, one or two ships were to be completely diverted 
from their course, from time to time, and sent off under a prize- 
master to Nev/ York for adjudication, I wonder how the Liver- 
pool folks would like it ? But if, in addition to this perfectly 
regular and usual exercise of a belligerent right on the part of 
the Americans, under such circumstances we bring in that most 
awkward and ticklish of questions, the impressment of seamen, 
let us consider how much the feelings of annoyance, on the part 
of the English neutral, would be augmented. 

" Conceive, for instance, that the American squadron employed 
to blockade the French ships in Liverpool was short-handed, but 
from being in daily expectation of bringing their enemy to action, 



36 

One of the most powerful causes of the favourable 
feeling towards Englishmen is of course to be found 
in the common origin of the two people. But an- 

it had become an object of great consequence with them to get 
their sliips manned ; and suppose, likewise, that it were perfectly 
notorious to all parties, that on board every English ship arriving 
or sailing from the port iu question there were several American 
citizens, but calling themselves English, and having in their 
possession protections or certificates to that effect, sworn to in a 
regular form, but well known to be false, and such as might be 
bought for 4^. 6cl. any day. Things being in this situation, if the 
American men-of-war oft' the English port were then to fire at 
and stop every ship, and, besides overhauling her papers and 
cargo, were to take out any seaman to work their own guns withal 
whom they had reason, or supposed, or said they had reason to 
consider American citizens, or whose country they guessed from 
dialect or appearance; — I wish to know with what degree of 
patience this would be submitted to on the exchange at Liverpool, 
or elsewhere in England ? 

"It signifies nothing to say that such a case could not occur, as 
the Americans do not impress seamen ; for all who have attended 
to such subjects know well enough that if they come to be en- 
gaged in a protracted war, especially at a distance from their own 
shores, there is no other possible way by which they can keep 
their armed ships manned. This, however, is not the point now 
in discussion. I merely wish to put the general case broadly 
before our own eyes, in order tliat we may bring it distinctly 
home to ourselves, and then see whether or not the Americans 
had reason for their indignation." — Vide Capt. Basil Hall's 
Fragments of Voyages and Travels, p. 174, Jirst series. 

It would, perhaps, not be easy to induce an American to con- 
cede the possible necessity of impressment ; but that is not the 
question at present. Captain Hall places the whole subject of 
the irritations which contributed so mateiially to hasten the last 
war between Great Britain and the United States before the 
public so fully and impartially in this very interesting little work, 
that I cannot refrain from continuing my extracts. He proceeds 
to say (page 299) : 



37 

other great moral influence and bond of union is a 
community of language. In a "Memoir" written 
by the present French ambassador at this court, 
which deserves to be as well known in England as it 
is in America, are the following very remarkable 
observations: — 

" In putting a parallel case to ours off New York, and sup- 
posing Liverpool to be blockaded by the Americans on the ground 
of their watching some French ships, I omitted to throw in one 
item which is necessary to complete the parallel, and make it fit 
the one from which it is drawn. 

[ " Suppose the blockading American ships of Liverpool, in firing 
a shot a-head of a vessel they wished to examine, had accident- 
ally hit, not that vessel, but a small coaster so far beyond her, 
that she was not even noticed by the blockading ships ; and sup- 
pose further this unlucky chance shot to have killed one of the 
crew on board the said coaster, the vessel would of course proceed 
immediately to Liverpool with the body of their slaughtered 
countryman; and, in fairness it may be asked, what would have 
been the efiect of such a spectacle on the population of England, 
more particularly if such an event had occurred at the moment of 
a general election, when party politics, raging on this very question 
of foreign interference, was at its height ? 

" This is not an imaginary case, for it actually occurred in 
1804, when we were blockading the French frigates in New York. 
A casual shot from the Leander hit an unfortunate sloop's main- 
boom; and the broken spar striking the mate, John Pierce by 
name, killed him instantly. The sloop sailed on to New York, 
where the mangled body, raised on a platform, was paraded 
through the streets, in order to augment the vehement indigna- 
tion, already at a high pitch, against the English. 

" Now, let us be candid to our rivals, and ask ourselves whe- 
ther the Americans would have been worthy of our friendship, or 
even of our hostility, had they tamely submitted to indignities 
which, if passed upon ourselves, would have roused not only 
Liverpool, but the whole country, into a towering passion of na- 
tionality ?" 



38 

" Identity of language is a fundamental relation 
on whose influence one cannot too deeply meditate. 
This identity places between the men of England 
and America a common character ivhich ivill make 
them always take to, and recognise each other. But 
an insurmountable barrier is raised between people 
of a different language, who cannot utter a word 
without recollecting that they do not belong to the 
same country; betwixt whom every transmission of 
thought is an irksome labour, and not an enjoy- 
ment; who never come to understand each other 
thoroughly, and with whom the result of conversa- 
tion, after the fatigue of unavailing efforts, is to find 
themselves mutually ridiculous."* 

After detailing some of the effects of the great 
moral influence of the use of the English language 
on the legislative and political institutions of the 
United States, M. de Talleyrand says, that " we 
must renounce all knowledge of the influence of 
laws upon man, and deny the modifications which he 
receives from all that surrounds him, if we do 
not concede the immense influence which the use 
of a common language has upon inter-national re- 
lations." 

The personal observations of this acute statesman 
are further confirmed by M. Politica, formerly the 

* American translation. 



39 

representative of Russia in North America, in his 
" Aperm'' on the United States, in which he hears 
witness to the great moral effects on the social insti- 
tutions, habits, and feelings of America, to be as- 
cribed to the unavoidable use of the language of the 
mother country. 

It may be said that this feeling can exist towards 
individuals without influencing the councils of a 
nation. But whatever may have been the feelings 
of animosity that, at an earlier period of the exist- 
ence of the American union as an independent 
government, pervaded its members, any person can 
form an opinion, from the publicity with which the 
affairs of the United States are transacted, whether 
traces of such hostile feelings are more to be per- 
ceived in the measures of the present government 
of that country, than in the behaviour of individuals, 
or the acts of our own government. It would have 
been better, perhaps, for all countries if the advice 
of that great and excellent man. General Washing- 
ton, had been considered as applicable to other forms 
of government as to that United States. 

In the address of the first president of the United 
States to his fellow-citizens, on declining to be con- 
sidered a candidate for their future suffrages, are 
these excellent recommendations : 

" Observe good faith and justice towards all na- 



40 

tions ; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Re- 
ligion and morality enjoin this conduct ; and can it 
be that good policy does not equally enjoin it ? It 
will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and (at no dis- 
tant period) a great nation to give to mankind the 
magnanimous and novel example of a people always 
guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who 
can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the 
fruits of such a plan would richly repay any tem- 
porary advantages which might be lost by a steady 
adherence to it ? Can it be that providence has not 
connected the permanent felicity of a nation with 
virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended 
by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. 
Alas ! is it rendered impossible by its vices ? 

"In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more 
essential than that permanent^ inveterate antipathies 
against particular nations^ and passionate attach- 
ment/or others^ should he excluded; and that, in the 
place of them, just and amicable feelings towards 
all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges 
towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual 
fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to 
its animosity, or to its affection ', either of which is 
sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its in- 
terest. Antipathy in one nation against another, 
disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, 



41 

to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage^ and to be 
haughty and intractable when accident or trifling 
occasions of dispute occur. Hence frequent col- 
lisions, obstinate, envenomed and bloody contests. 
The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, 
sometimes impels to war the government, contrary 
to the best calculations of policy. The government 
sometimes participates in the national propensity, 
and adopts, through passion, what reason would 
reject ; at other times, it makes the animosity of the 
nation subservient to projects of hostility, insti- 
gated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and 
pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes 
perhaps the liberty, of nations has been the victim. 
"So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one 
nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sym- 
pathy for the favourite nation, facilitating the illusion 
of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no 
real common interest exists, and infusing into one 
the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a 
participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, 
without adequate inducement or justification. It 
leads also to concessions to the favourite nation of 
privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to 
injure the nation making the concessions, by un- 
necessarily parting with what ought to have been 
retained ; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a 



42 

disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom 
equal privileges are withheld : and it gives to am- 
bitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote 
themselves to the favourite nation) facility to betray 
or sacrifice the interests of their own country with- 
out odium, sometimes even with popularity ; gilding 
with the appearances of a virtuous sense of ob- 
ligation, a commendable deference for public opin- 
ion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or 
foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or in- 
fatuation." 

He further says : — 

" The great rule of conduct for us in regard to 
foreign nations is, in extending our commercial re- 
lations, to have with them as little political con- 
nexion as possible. So far as we have already 
formed engagements, let them be fulfilleil with 
perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 

" Europe has a set of primary interests, which to 
us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she 
must be engaged in frequent controversies, the 
causes of which are essentially foreign to our con- 
cerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us 
to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the or- 
dinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary 
combinations and collisions of her friendships or 
enmities. 



43 

"Our detached and distant situation invites and 
enables us to pursue a different course. If we re- 
main one people, under an efficient government, the 
period is not far off when we may defy material 
injury from external annoyance ; when we may take 
such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may 
at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously re- 
spected ; when belligerent nations, under the im- 
possibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not 
lightly hazard the giving us provocation ; when 
we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided 
by justice, shall counsel. 

"Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a 
situation ? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign 
ground ? Why, by interweaving our destiny with 
that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and 
prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival- 
ship, interest, humour, or caprice ? 

" It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent 
alliances with any portion of the foreign world ; so 
far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it ; for let 
me not be understood as capable of patronising in- 
fidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim 
no less applicable to public than to private affairs, 
that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, 
therefore, let those engagements be observed in their 



44 

genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unneces- 
sary, and would be unwise, to extend them. 

" Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable 
establishments in a respectable defensive posture, 
we may safely trust to temporary alliances for ex- 
traordinary emergencies. 

" Harmony, and a liberal intercourse with all na- 
tions, are recommended by policy, humanity, and 
interest. But even our commercial policy should 
hold an equal and impartial hand ; neither seeking 
nor granting exclusive favours or preferences," 
&c. &c. &c. 

Without here examining whether the different ad- 
ministrations of America have always acted strictly 
in accordance with these wise suggestions, we at 
least see in them an explanation of the motives that 
induce the United States sedulously to avoid " en- 
tangling alliances," which in their peculiar position 
it would be folly to contract. And in the adop- 
tion of the line of policy here recommended to 
America, it is to be hoped will be found an anti- 
dote to such national enmities as may be supposed 
to exist in the councils of that country. 



45 



CHAPTER IV. 

Examination of objections to the political institutions of the Uni- 
ted States continued. — Effects of very large constituencies not 
such as have been anticipated. — Corruption not general. — The 
representative bodies in America not de facto delegates. 

With respect to the assumption, that large con- 
stituencies, formed upon the principles that are in 
force in America, will return unworthy representa- 
tives, it is not found to he confirmed by the expe- 
rience of several years, even in the larger states, 
and where the greatest extension is given to the 
democratic principle. We are also apt to suppose in 
England, that where multitudes of voters have to 
decide the elections, a necessary consequence will be 
extreme disorder, riot, and confusion ; I can only 
say, that from whatever cause, no such effects gene- 
rally arise from the mode of elections in the United 
States. Let us take New York for an example. And 
here I shall quote the statements of a correspondent of 
one of the leading journals of this country, which, as 
far as my opportunities of observation allow me to 
judge, are perfectly correct on this head. The letter 
is written in support of the clause, giving additional 
representatives to the metropolis j and after antici- 



46 

pating the objections, on the score of riot, expense, 
&c., proceeds to state — 

" But what in reality is the case? In a late warmly 
contested election to the senate for the state of New 
York, there were about 250,000 voters polled; there 
were no brickbats, no dead cats, or any similar argu- 
ments resorted to on either side; in short, such modes 
of election are unknown among our unpolished bre- 
then, and the expense to the successful candidate 
was about 40/. 

" But then ' the man who was elected was surely 
some greasy mechanic, — some pot-companion and 
worthy prototype of the illiterate and ignorant men 
who elected him?' 

" The successful candidate w^as a man who has 
from early youth distinguished himself by his talents, 
his eloquence, and his enlarged and benevolent views. 
He occupied the post of secretary of state for the 
foreign and home departments, and relinquished that 
office from a high and delicate feeling of the peculiar 
position of his party, and that of the present presi- 
dent of the United States, to accept the appointment 
of minister to this country; in a word, it was Mr 
Van Buren. 

" Nor is this a solitary instance, nor confined to 
one party; Mr Clay, Mr Webster, Mr M' Lane (the 
late envoy to this country), and indeed with scarcely 



47 

an exception, all the men elected by the larger bodies 
of constituents, are men distinguished for their ta- 
lents, their services, or their standing in the estima- 
tion of the country. Nor are we authorised to say, 
that this is peculiar to the inhabitants of the United 
States : human nature is much the same, whether on 
this side of the Atlantic or the other. Neither are 
men in the lower walks of life prone to elect as their 
representatives those in nowise their superiors. The 
thought, ' I am as good as he is,' will prevent it. 
On the contrary, the greater the multitude, the more 
elevated must be the position which it is necessary to 
take, in order to be advantageously in their view. 
" Then, on the score of expense, the opponents of 
popular representation will say, 'you must advocate 
vote by ballot, or the influence of wealth will be 
paramount in this country, whatever it maybe there.' 
But let them recollect, that it is not easy to buy the 
majority of 250,000 votes, at even 5l. each. And 
what is rather a remarkable fact, the ballot is, in a 
thousand instances, not resorted to in the United 
States ; on the contrary, a display of the sentiments 
of the voters is made as much as in this country; 
and the order that prevails is less surprising, when 
we recollect who are the individuals here, whose 
arguments in support of their favourite candidate 
consist in the missiles thrown at the head of his 



48 

opponent. Are they not very generally those who 
have no vote ? A man feels that he can much more 
effectually support his representative hy giving him 
his vote than by stopping the mouth of the other 
party with a cabbage or a dead cat; and he perfers 
the easier and more useful method."* 

M. Vigne confirms this account of the difficulty of 
perpetrating any acts of corruption in the United 
States, and his conviction of the non-existence of 
bribery at elections generally, he says, " that al- 
though, supposing the rich sometimes to influence 
the poor voters, he believes votes are rarely bought 
in the United States:" — this is quite true, "voters 
are too numerous, and therefore corruptions costly 
and difficult of concealment;" and elsewhere, "it is 
to the credit of America that individual wealth has 
never yet been employ ediov any unconstitutional pur- 
pose."! I cannot join in giving this credit entirely 
to the self-denial or patriotic principle of the people 
of the United States. I look upon it as rather the 
result of their institutions, human nature being much 
the same, and subject to the same temptations, in 
America as elsewhere ; but their whole political 
system has been devised with a view to depriving 

* Times, March Sd, 1832. 

t Vide Vigne's Six Months in America^ Vol. I. p. 152 and 191 ; 
Vol. II. p. 242. 



49 

wealth of all but its legitimate advantages : and ad- 
mirably have its framers succeeded. A millionaire^ 
in America, may have a mansion in every capital of 
the union, establishments in town or country, on 
any scale he pleases of expense or luxury, and 
were he distinguished for talents or merit, his riches 
would, of course, cxteris parihus, give him certain 
advantages ; l)ut he would in vain attempt to 
procure admittance to either house of legislature, by 
dint of wealth alone; and I do not think that it 
would be possible to adduce a single instance to 
disprove this assertion. 

It has been remarked that an aristocracy is grow- 
ing up in evei-y city in the union ; but it should 
be remembered that it is not a political, but a 
social aristocracy. 

The representatives in congress have been repeat- 
edly described as mere delegates, and not free to 
exercise their opinions or abilities according to the 
dictates of their own judgment or conscientious in- 
tentions. But this, although, perhaps, considered 
theoretically true of the house of representatives, 
by a great proportion of the Americans, is disallowed 
by many others; and with regard to the senate, 
certainly does not hold good as a rule. It may be 
said that, de facto, the state of the question is very 
much the same as in England. On any great 

G 



50 

national question arising, or about to be decided, 
the electors naturally ascertain the sentiments of a 
candidate upon that particular subject, leaving him 
free to exercise his unpledged opinion upon all other 
topics that are not supposed so vitally to concern 
their immediate interests. 

To say that every member of congress is, there- 
fore, a mere delegate upon any debate that might 
arise v^'^ould be an error, and, indeed, would in most 
cases be mistaking cause for effect. The representa- 
tive is elected because his opinion on certain subjects 
is known and approved^ not in order that he may 
be compelled to register prejudged decisions opposed 
to his own judgment. 

I have before me at this moment a speech of Mr 
Clay's, upon a highly important subject, and find the 
following words : — " I stand here as the humble but 
zealous advocate, not of the ijiterests of one state^ or 
several states only, but of the whole union ; and 
never before have 1 felt more intensely the over- 
powering weight of that share of responsibility 
which belongs to me in these deliberations," &c. : 
surely this is not the principle of a hard-.curbed and 
hoodwinked delegate.* 

In conversation with more than one of the most 

* Vide Debates in the Senate, Feb. 1832. 



51 

distinguished men in congress, I have frequently 
heard opinions expressed that quite corroborated the 
view here taken of the state of feeling on this head 
in the United States. 

Other objections on the score of insecurity to 
property, real expense of the government of the 
United States, &c. are incidentally answered in the 
course of the following pages ; but with regard to 
the real independence of the judicial power of 
America, so vital a question deserves particular 
attention. 



52 



CHAPTER V. 

Supreme Court of the United States. — Its judicial independence 
and high character. — Diplomatic agents particularly interested 
in its proceedings. — Has jurisdictioii in all cases touching the 
law of nations. — State "Judiciaries." — Associate judges. 

It would be quite superfluous on the part of the 
author of these pages to offer any remarks upon the 
high personal and judicial character of the chief 
justice and the other individuals composing the su- 
preme *court of the United States; such a tribute 
of respect, as he would be proud to offer, could only 
be regarded as a matter of course, by those who have 
been honoured by an acquaintance with these gentle- 
men; or who have regarded with an^i attention the 
proceedings of the court at which they preside. 

But the elevated reputation which the decisions 
and conduct of the supreme court of the United 
States have so justly acquired, is by no means likely 

* The character of the venerable Chief Justice Marshall is as 
justly appreciated and respected by those foreigners whose high 
diplomatic situations have afforded them opportunities of culti- 
vating his friend sliip, as by his own countrymen. And it is a 
singular compliment extorted from those who are inimical to the 
institutions of his country, that they attribute much of the success 
that has hitherto attended its existence to tlie personal character 
of the head of the supreme coui-t. 



53 

to cease with the lives of those now composing it. 
If judicial independence can be secured by any safe- 
guard to be provided by legislative foresight or 
prudence, it will not be difficult to show that the 
federal "judiciary" of the United States is placed 
upon as firm a basis as can be well imagined. 
The nature of the supreme court* of the United 

* « That the supreme court shall have exclusive jurisdiction 
of all controversies of a civil nature, where a state is a party, 
except betv/een a state and its citizens j and except also between 
a state and citizens of other states, or aliens, in which latter case 
it shall have original, but not exclusive jurisdiction; and shall 
have, exclusively, all such jurisdiction of suits or proceedings 
against ambassadors, or other public ministers, or their domestics, 
or domestic servants, as a court of law can have or exercise con- 
sistently xoith the law of nations; and original, but not exclusive 
jurisdiction of all suits brought by ambassadors or other public 
ministers, or in which a consul or vice-consul shall be a party. ^^ — 
Public and General Statutes of the United States, published by 
Justice Story, chap. xx. § 13. 

There are few countries where the immunities and privileges 
extended by civilized nations to the representatives of foreign 
powers, are more complete or more strictly protected than in 
America : thus, " if any writ or process shall, at any time Itere- 
after, be sued forth or prosecuted by any person or persons, in 
any of the courts of the United States, or m any of the courts of 
a particular state, or by any judge or justice therein, respectively, 
whereby the person of any ambassador or other public minister, of 
any foreign prince or state, authorized and received as such by the 
president of the United States, or any domestic or domestic ser- 
vant of any such ambassador or other public minister, may be ar- 
rested or imprisoned, or his or their goods or chattels be distrained, 
seized, or attached, such writ or process shall be deemed or adjudg- 
ed to be utterly null and void, to all intents, construction, and pur- 
poses whatsoever. 



54 

States is the more interesting to foreigners, as it has 
original jurisdiction in all suits brought by foreign 
ministers, charges-d'affaires, &c. It takes cogni- 
zaiice exclusively of all cases affecting envoys and 
other diplomatic functionaries, consuls, vice-consuls, 

§ 26. " That in case any person or persons shall sue forth or 
prosecute any such writ or process, such person or persons, and 
all attorneys or solicitors prosecuting or soliciting in such case, 
and all officers executing any such writ or process, being thereof 
convicted, shall be deemed violators of the laws of nations, and 
disturbers of the public repose, and imprisoned, not exceeding 
three years, and fined at the discretion of the court,''^ Sfc. This 
protection is legally assured by a very easy condition, viz., that 
" the name of such servant be first registered in the office of the 
secretary of state, and by such secretary transmitted to the mar- 
shal of the district in which congress shall reside, who shall, up- 
on receipt thereof, affix the same in some public place in his office, 
whereto all persons may resort and take copies without fee or re- 
ward." 

§ 27. " That if any person shall violate any safe conduct or 
passport duly obtained, and issued under the authority of the 
United States, or shall assault, strike, wound, impi'ison, or in any 
other manner infract the law of nations, by offering violence to 
the person of an ambassador or other public minister, sucli person 
so oftending, on conviction, shall he imprisoned not exceeding three 
years, and fined at the discretion of the court.'''' — Ibid., chap, xxxvi. 
§ 25, 26 and 27. And the most extended and liberal interpreta- 
tion is given to these provisions. 

In a case that occurred soon after the assumption of the throne 
by Don Miguel in Portugal, a suit was instituted against one of 
the agents of Don Pedro, or rather itbnna Maria. As this gentle- 
man was no longer legally a representative (after the recognition 
of Don Miguel by the United States), it became a question of 
some interest and doubt, whether the usual privileges would be 
allowed in his case ; but the utmost extension of national courtesy 
was exercised on this occasion, and all proceedings accordingly 
stopped. 



55 

as well as of all cases connected with the law of 
nations. 

Some important peculiarities are observable in the 
relations of the United States wath other govern- 
ments, which result partly from the form of its con- 
stitution, and partly from legal causes. In the rati- 
fication of treaties, for instance, the concurrence of 
tivo-thirds of the senators present is required to 
carry into effect the ratification of the president of 
the United States.* 

Difficulties also arise in procuring the delivery to 

the agents of a foreign power of fugitives from 

justice, &c., somewhat similar to those which the 

habeas corpus act produces in cases of a like nature 

in England. This was long ago perceived by a very 

intelligent observer of American affairs : — " Quoi- 

qu'il en soit, une chose tres-positive et qu'il importe 

de ne pa's perdre de vue, lorsqu'on a des rapports 

politiques avec le gouvernement Amcricain, c'est 

que sa souverainete est incomplete. II en resulte 

que dans plusieurs cas, oii le droit des gens est in- 

teresse, il est impossible au gouvernement Ameri- 

cain d'accorder la reciprocite sans outre passer ses 

pouvoirs."t 

* Vide Constitution of the United States, Art. II. sect. 2. 
t However this may be, one thing is very certain, and must by 
no means be lost sight of in any political relations with the Ameri- 



56 

The members of the federal judiciary are ap- 
pointed for life, and they can be dismissed from office 
only by impeachment. In England no judge can be 
removed but by conviction for some offence, or the 
address of both houses of parliament, which may 
be called an act of legislature. But the judges of 
the supreme court cannot be reached by address, 
and enjoy perfect immunity from the measures of 
either the president or the houses of congress. In 
some of the states, how^ever, a similar provision to 
that of our constitution has been adopted, but the 
dangers to the practical independence of the judges, 
arising from popular excitement, have been neutra- 
lized by requiring the concurrence of tivo-thinlsoi 
each branch of the legislature, in order to effect a 
removal. 

In some of the estates the judges are periodically 
elective : this I think must be considered as a vicious 
system, and many persons of experience will be found 
in the United States who much condemn it, and 
who regret that the organization is not universally 
assimilated to that of the judiciary of the federal 
government. 

can government. Its sovereign power is incomplete. From which 
it results, that in many cases, where the law of nations is con- 
cerned, it is impossible for the American government to admit 
reciprocity, without exceeding its legal powers. — Politica's Jlperqu 
de la Situatioti interieure des Etats JJnis d^Amerique^ p. 79. 



57 

There is one peculiarity of the state "judiciary" 
deserving of remark. Two associate judges are ap- 
pointed, who assist a legal judge presiding on the 
bench of the courts of the various judicial districts : 
this has appeared to many foreigners as an inju- 
dicious anomaly in legal practice. I am not suffi- 
ciently cognizant of the subject to attempt to decide 
upon its technical propriety ; but, practically, the re- 
suits of this system are good. The associates being 
generally men of respectability and good sense, well 
acquainted with the local peculiarities of their dis- 
tricts, and engaged in the ordinary transactions of 
life, they may often modify the mere legal and strictly 
literal application of the law^s. The presiding law- 
yer-judge, abstracted by professional pursuits from a 
similar familiarity with the common business and 
occupations of his fellow-citizens, has thus an oppor- 
tunity of obtaining information on particular cases 
from two persons who may be regarded in some 
measure as responsible jurors ; they may also be 
considered as answering many of the purposes of our 
magistrates, of whom by far the greater proportion 
are not legal men, and often very imperfectly qua- 
lified to decide on legal points ; they are liable to 
greater responsibility however than our magistracy, 
and although sometimes acting de facto as equitable 
arbitrators, leave points of law to the professional 

H 



58 

judge. An appeal also lies from their decisions to 
the supreme court. 

Captain Hall does not think that the independence 
of judicial functions in the United States is suffi- 
ciently assured. His remarks on the subject are so 
ably answered by the author of a " Review of Cap- 
tain B. Hall's Travels in North America,"* that I 
must refer the reader to an extract from it, to be 
found in the Appendix,t for a much better elucida- 
tion of the subject than it is in my power to give. 

It is to be regretted that Captain Hall should 
have so decidedly announced a determination never 
himself to adopt the old principle of audi alteram 
partem (on the subject of America), which he 
justly recommends to others; he might possibly 
have found that in some instances he has, from the 
unavoidable disadvantages under which all foreign- 
ers labour when describing in detail so extensive a 
country as the United States, misconceived some 
points in a moral and political system so very dif- 
ferent from our own. 

* Attributed, I believe rightly, to the president of the Bank of 
the United States, Mr Biddle,* a gentleman distinguished alike 
for sound sense, extensive information, and the pleasing urbanity 
of his manners. 

t Vide Appendix, No. 1. 

* JVote to American edition. The author is R. Biddle, Esq. 



59 

Mr Vigne, whose opinions on this subject deserve 
greater weight from his being himself a lawyer, as 
well as from the generally unprejudiced tone of his 
pleasing work, says, "the authorities of the su- 
preme court are intended as the safeguards of the 
union ;" and he adds, justly, " that the independence 
of this court, and, in fact, of all the federal judi- 
ciary, may be termed the sheet anchor of the 
United States." 

The late decision of the court in favour of the 
Cherokee Indians, and reversing a decree lately 
obtained by the state of Georgia, cannot but add 
to the dignified and impartial character that has 
ever distinguished the proceedings of that eminent 
body, and gives additional confidence, if any were 
wanting, in the future firmness of a court, whose 
principles are as unbiassed by selfish as by party 
feelings. 



60 



CHAPTER VI. 

Misrepresentations of the domestic manners of the Americans. — 
Many of the peculiarities of the social system of the United 
States not attributable exclusively, to the republican form of 
government. — Advantages and defects compared of American 
and English systems. 

It was not my intention to have touched upon 
the social system of the United States, or the effects 
produced upon it by the nature of its government; 
it is but incidentally connected with the object of 
these remarks. A late work, however, upon the 
"Domestic Manners of the Americans," has pre- 
sented such a very unfaithful picture of society in 
the United States, that a few observations on the 
subject may be necessary. It is true that the 
authoress describes but the manners and habits of 
a portion of the community, and of a section of the 
country but lately emerged from the state of an 
almost uninhabited wilderness ; while her candid 
declaration of dislike and ill-will towards the Ameri- 
cans and their institutions, political or social, suffi- 
ciently accounts for the satirical, clever, but highly 
coloured caricatures in which the writer indulges. 
But the general reader, amused by the spirited tone of 



61 

acerbity and sarcastic talent with which the pictures 
are drawn, and totally unacquainted with the country 
described, does not examine the justice of the repre- 
sentation, as applied to the upper classes, particu- 
larly in the larger and older capitals, and mistakes 
it for a general outline of American society. This 
impression is fostered by the notice in the Quarterly 
Review, which carefully keeps out of view Mrs 
Trollope's raptures at 'New York, and even at 
Washington, in which places, however, it does not 
appear that she, from whatever cause, ever was re- 
ceived in the higher circles. Of Boston and New 
England, generally, which others* describe as, par 
excellence, the seat of ultra aristocracy in the United 
States, the work does not speak at all. 

To estimate justly the fidelity of the writer's 
satire as a tableau general of American society in 
the United States, let us imagine an American, or 
any other foreigner, coming to England, and "lo- 
cating" himself in the fens of Lincolnshire, or in 
some remote village of Lancashiref or Yorkshire, 
and giving the language, tone, and manners of the 

* Vide Vigne, Vol. II. p. 242. 

t Mr M'Gregor says, speaking of the United States, " no gen- 
tleman who is commonly polite will meet with any thing but kind 
ti'eatment in America ; and as to the peculiarities of their tongue, 
I need only observe that 1 have never met with an American, hoioever 
humble, whose language was not perfectly plain and intelligible to 



62 

society that he might find there as a fair specimen 
of good company in England ; or lodging at Wap- 
ping, or in some obscure part of the Tower Hamlets, 
and giving the "veils" and "vats," the "osses" and 
"himages" of some of the cockney population as a 
fair sample of London manners ! He might even 
add, " I give this as a specimen of the manners and 
habits of the greater part of the community," with 
literal truth, as doubtless, numerically, the major 
part of the inhabitants of the metropolis do not dis- 
tinguish themselves as puristes in language;, but 
would it be strictly fair to convey such an impress- 
ion of the general manners of England, if a faith- 
ful picture were intended? The late publication 
of the tour of prince Piichler Muskeau is a fulsome 
eloge of English usages compared with Mrs Trol- 
lope's account of American manners ; yet it has not 
escaped censure neither the most gentle nor argu- 
mentative. 

If the foreign traveller whom I am supposing, in 
addition to his bad choice of residence, should evince 
the equally bad taste of visiting England under the 
auspices of Mr Carlile or the "Rev." Mr Taylor, 
and come to pass some time under their roof, it 
would not contribute to render his subsequent ac- 

7ne ; while I can scarcely understand half xohat the country people 
say within a few miles of me in Lancashire,'" c^c.— Vide M'Gregor, 
Vol. I. p. 39. 



63 

cess to the best society more ready. It was doubt- 
less unfavourable to the opportunities which the 
authoress herself could of course have easily com- 
manded, of personally judging of the high classes 
of society in America, that some of her "philoso- 
phical friend's" " fanatical"* and " startling theories" 
were highly unpopular in the United States, and 
an intimacy with that lady was, possibly, not the 
best avenue to the society of the " patrician few" 
whose manners are not described by the authoress. 

In Miss Wright's lectures, according to the Quar- 
terly Reviewf and the newspaper reports upon them, 
she advocated the suppression of all religions, and 
the abolition of all such restraints upon the natural 
impulses, as the institution of marriage, &c. &c. 

A strong prejudice exists in America, notwith- 
standing the supposed want of respect for all esta- 
blished customs, in favour of these antiquated insti- 
tutions, and against the doctrines promulgated by 
Miss Wright ; and, in a country where such a feel- 
ing is predominant, and where the women of the 
upper classes are accused of being prudishly sensitive 

* The Quarterly, in reviewing Mrs Trollope's book, thus de- 
signates Miss Wright's attempts to preach down religion, mar- 
riage, &c. ; while the poor German Prince is called a " blasphe- 
mer," a "scoffer," &c. — Vide Quarterly Review, Nos. XCIL, 
XCIII., 1832. 

t " Miss F. Wright, lecturer itinerant against Christianity, 
matrimony, and all other old-fashioned delusions," &c. — Ibid. 



64 

on all subjects where female delicacy is concerned, 
it is not difficult to conceive that her patronage was 
no passport to the best society. Mrs Trollope very 
properly condemns the system of Miss Wright, and 
in much stronger terms than the reviewer ; but it is 
to be presumed that justice was not done to heron 
this score, or we should doubtless have seen in her 
book descriptions proportionately as graphic and 
faithful to the good society of America as her dia- 
tribes against the lower orders are severe and char- 
gees. Judging by the high praise that she bestows 
on some portion* of what she saw in the United 
States, it is fair to suppose that she would have done 
justice to a very different state of society from that 
which she describes, had she enjoyed opportunities 
of personally forming an opinion on the habits of 
the upper ranks. 

As to the more classical refinements produced by 
the cultivation of a taste for the fine arts, and the 
elaborate luxuries which naturally arise in a commu- 
nity where hereditary wealth and rank give leisure 
and encouragement to the lighter and more seduc- 
tive studies, they cannot be expected to attain rapidly 
to any perfection, when the very culture of the soil 
is in its infancy. But it is surprising that where 

* Vide her Descriptions of New York, Washington, beautj of 
the women, &c. &,c. 



65 

pursuits and occupations, little connected with lite- 
rary and scientific pursuits, are of necessity so uni- 
versally followed, there should, in the older Atlantic 
capitals at least, be such progress already made 
towards these ornamental superstructures of civili- 
zation. Le superflu, chose si necessaire, may be 
found either at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, 
&c., and in much greater perfection that might 
reasonably be expected by Europeans ; those who 
are disappointed at not finding the "stately homes 
of England" rising among primeval forests, or on the 
banks of rivers that but a few years back watered 
the undisturbed domain of the painted Indian, have 
in truth built castles in the air when they proceeded 
to visit America. And if we find little artificial 
and conventional refinement among persons enjoy- 
ing many of those comforts of affluence that among 
us are generally the portion of the few and educated 
alone, should we not rather consider the complete 
independence and comparative happiness of a large 
class of men, who in the mother country might be 
starving on the miserable stipend of a poor-house, 
or on the daily w^ages of fifteen hours' work in a 
manufactory, than be surprised at their rusticity of 
manner? It is quite true, that many of the habi- 
tual elegances of life (which a very few years ago 
were exotic superfluities in our own country) arc 



66 

not to be met with in the recently settled countries, 
and there are " men of education and of refine- 
ment,* in every state of the union," who know by 
the experience acquired in other countries, the full 
value of the advantages that they cannot expect as 
yet to realize in their own. But let us pause 
awhile, and^ reflect, that if we listen to the predic- 
tions of those who argue the speedy downfall of the 
political institutions of America, we should also 
await the lapse of a few years of successful improve- 
ments, to pronounce on the possibility of refine- 
ment following in the steps of wealth and education, 
especially in that country, where a comparatively 
very short period suffices to produce a wonderful 
advancement. Nor should w^e attribute all the de- 
fects incident to the infancy of every society en- 
tirely to the effects of the popular nature of the 
2:overnment of the United States. The inhabi- 
tants of the contemporaneous colonies of British 
America,! under similar physical circumstances, 
evince the same aversion for menial service, from 
like causes, and have not been more distinguished 
in the career of literature, arts and sciences, than 
their immediate neighbours, although under a very 
different form of government; nor can it for some 
time be expected that it should be otherwise. 

* Vide Vigne, Vol. 11. p. 242. 

t Vide B. Hall's Travels in North America, Vol. I. p. 229, &c. 



67 

If there are not, however, in America, generally, 
whether colonial or independent, many of the ad- 
vantages which hereditary rank and privileged 
wealth indispiitably bring in their train, neither are 
there their countervailing evils; political corrup- 
tion, for instance, is nearly impracticable ; if the 
conventional forms and increasing artificial wants 
of the highly artificial system of England are want- 
ing, neither is there to be discovered that much 
more disgusting and contemptible real vulgarity 
resulting from the abject worship of rank and 
wealth that debases the lower orders, and some 
members of almost every class of society in our 
country. If the roughness of manner and extreme 
independence of the lower classes* in the remote 

* There are many parts of Europe where the freedom of man- 
ner of the lower classes would much startle a cockney traveller, 
particularly in nations where Englishmen are inclined to think 
that a great degree of personal degradation must necessarily be 
found among the bourgeois and peasantry. In Spain, Austria, 
Denmark, or Sweden, a traveller is frequently struck by this in- 
dependence of deportment. I have witnessed it in all these 
countries, but particularly in Spain. In the mountains of Anda- 
lusia, in a hovel of a venta, the host, or his brother peasants, will 
receive you with perfect good-nature and rough hospitality, but 
with a cool tacit assertion of perfect equality in demeanour, as 
widely difterentfrom the habits of England as are those of America. 
It is true, that while eating garlic with a pocket-knife and with a 
lack of the means and appliances of civilized life that would be 
the death of a dandy, the lowest Spaniard has a quiet dignity of 
manner that, however rustic, must exclude vulgarity, which 
never can exist where there is a true and natural independence of 



68 

parts of the union be occasionally disagreeable to 
Europeans, accustomed to, and perhaps exacting, 
the interested homage paid to opulence in other 
countries, the h assesses viiih which exclusive divini- 
ties are propitiated in England (and verily often by 
those who have little excuse for not knowing bet- 
ter) are unknown. There may be much want 
of external polish found combined with much prac- 
tical good sense ; although there are few of the mis- 
erable coxcombries of dandyism, — there will be 

feeling and absence of affectation. This freedom, or perhaps 
coarseness, of manner is not offensive (at least I never found it 
so), because jou perceive in it an evident absence of .all inten- 
tional incivility; yet it was, perhaps, more near being disagreeable 
sometimes in the cafes and larger ybnrfa* or inns, where the wait- 
ers when unemployed would quietly take their seats, after, per- 
haps, asking you to light their cigar with your own. I remember 
particularly on board one of the steam-boats that run between 
Cadiz and Seville (for steam-boats now are constructed on the 
banks of the Guadalquivir, and somewhat disenchant the reveries 
of the traveller), the waiter, with his cap on his head and stump 
of a cigarillo in his mouth, quietly seated himself by me and took 
one of my pistols from holsters lying near, and began coolly to 
descant on tlie merits of its English workmanship. I have been 
on board many American steam-boats, and never saw the theory 
of equality and independence so strongly exemplified by the prac- 
tices of any of their attendants. There is a want of keeping in 
this sort of familiarity when in a crowded city or on board one of 
these floating hotels, at least our associations make us think so, 
that is infinitely more likely to give a slight feeling of what the 
French call chair depoule, than when we meet the active peasant 
on the mountain-paths of the Contrabandistas, or the athletic, 
well-armed, and well-mounted " caballero," who may he no better 
{or no worse) than a peasant, in the wild fastnesses of a Moorish 
village on the sierras of Andalusia. 



69 

found successful individuals of humble origin (not 
forming exceptions to a rule, but) in numbers suf- 
ficient to prove amply that talent and well-directed 
industry and energy are certain, as human institu- 
tions can make them, of being rewarded by the high- 
est stations in society : yet it will not be easy to 
find among the numerous and efficient employes of 
the American government a single specimen of the 
genus, vulgarly, but expressively, classified as the 
" Jack-in-office," whose absurd or stupid imperti- 
nence often clogs the operations of the European 
bureaux that they infest. There are to be found 
men of large hereditary or acquired possessions, 
whose feelings, education and manners would orna- 
ment any society, divested of the puerile varieties 
of an exclusive circle, or the putid puppyisms of 
the silver-fork school. 

Americans may well be excused if their patience 
is somewhat taxed by the short-sighted and captious 
criticisms that are sometimes uttered by foreigners 
upon their country, their government, or their man- 
ners. I look at that immense tract of country west 
of the AUeghanies, that a very few years ago was 
comparatively a wild forest, where many millions 
of acres were thinly occupied by a *few thousand 
inhabitants, and see a population already greater 
than that of several independent kingdoms, daily 



70 

increasing in numbers and adding to their comforts; 
where cities and towns spring up as if by magic from 
among the woods ; its plains traversed by rail-roads 
and its gigantic rivers covered with steam-boats. I 
see all this going on without tumult, bloodshed, or 
disorder ; and when I exclaim, " this is a noble, an 
extraordinary country !" I am answered in Abigail 
phrase — "but, shocking, the people eat with their 
knives !" 

* " Witness the result of free and protecting institutions. Fifty 
years ago the population westward of the Alleghanies did not ex- 
ceed 15,000, now it amounts to five millions. The population of 
priest-ridden Mexico has not increased for centuries." — See Vigne, 
Vol 11. p. 85. 



71 



CHAPTER VII. 

Financial and general prosperity of United States.— Its peculiar 
causes considered. — Principally attributable to a free and pro- 
tecting government. — Mexican and South American republics 
compared with the United States. — Report of Mr M'Lane on 
the finances of the United States. Opinions of Revue Britan- 
nique and Quarterly Review on economy of American govern- 
ment. 

That part of the American system which, perhaps, 
most strikes the European observer, is its excellent 
financial administration, and the success that has 
hitherto constantly attended all the fiscal arrange- 
ments of the union, as well as the continued in- 
crease of its sources of revenue not accompanied 
by a proportionate augmentation of expenditure. 
Again, if we turn from the contemplation of the 
revenue and expenses of the federal government to 
consider the general revenues of the United States 
as a nation, the growing prosperity and riches of 
each state, of companies, or individuals, we find 
generally an equally flourishing state of things. 

Many peculiar hut sufficiently obvious circum- 
stances contribute to this unexplained prosperity. 
The virgin soil of immense and fruitful tracts of 



72 

unoccupied territory awaiting the increasing wants 
of an enterprising and industrious population ; the 
non-existence of powerful and jealous neighbouring 
governments; or, at least, of such as seek to interfere 
with the growing fortunes of the republic, or who 
have any interest in so doing ; all the facilities for 
commercial undertakings that are afforded by the 
command of numerous excellent harbours, maritime 
cities, immense rivers, every material for ship- 
building, and the possibility of producing the grow^th 
of almost every soil or climate within their own 
territory: — these advantages, improved by the pe^ 
culiar feelings, disposition, and habits, which I 
may be excused as an Englishman for thinking are 
inherited from the mother country ,^all these con- 
tribute, together with many others that might be 
enumerated, to the unexampled progress of the 
extraordinary country that we are considering. 

But although, when tracing the sources of this 
prosperity of the Transatlantic republic, due weight 
must be allowed for the co-operation of all the 
above causes in producing such successful results, 
we must not forget that they are mainly attribu- 
table to the free institutions . adopted from the 
commencement of the existence of the United 
States as an independent government. This pop- 
ular form of government may be said to have 



73 

owed its origin and frame work to the system al- 
ready in force when America formed part of the 
colonial possessions of Great Britain. 

Nor can it be denied that the character of the 
people and their previous political education (if this 
term may be allowed), impressed with the habits, 
and familiar with the mechanism, of representative 
and free forms of government (one of their best 
inheritances from their British progenitors), had 
the greatest influence in forming the system that 
at present regulates the American federation, and 
produced the most beneficial effects in carrying 
into practice the principles adopted at its founda- 
tion. 

The spirit that animates the institutions of the 
United States affords encouragement to all classes 
to improve each of the numerous resources within 
their reach ; by facilitating* education and the dif- 
fusion of practical knowledge, the people are pre- 
pared to reap those advantages, the possession of 
which is afterwards protected by the force and 
stability of the laws. The results so far exceed the 
rational anticipations of even impartial observers, 
that in seeking to account for them, we are apt to un- 
dervalue the immense effects of free and protecting 
institutions in producing such gigantic consequences, 

* Vide Appendix, List of Colleges, &.c. 



74 

and thus ascribe an undue share in their produc- 
tion to the influence of other causes. Doubtless 
the adoption of the form of government of the 
United States would not have alone caused an in- 
crease of population from three to thirteen millions 
in fifty years, nor the absence of a national debt 
— ^nor w^ould it have created such a maritime force 
and commercial navy as now exist in America ; but, 
on the other hand, all the favourable circumstances 
to which we have alluded would not, under an op- 
posite system, have produced similar prosperity. 

Look at Mexico, for instance, favoured by climate 
(except on parts of the sea-coast or in the Gulf) 
beyond almost any country in the same latitude ; 
and its productions of the richest and most profi- 
table nature, with an immense and fertile territory : 
yet we see little promise, since the acknowledge- 
ment of her independence, of such a proportionate 
aggrandizement as the example of the United States 
might lead us to expect. Some of its richest and 
most available territory is at this moment occupied 
and brought into cultivation by a sort of private 
colony* of natives of the United States ; and this 
with the connivance, if not protection and consent 
of the Mexican government, who rightly feel that 

* For some account of this colony, and the province of Texas, 
see Appendix. 



75 

the resources of this important province (the Texas) 
will not soon be rendered available by their ovs^n 
people. If we look to the governments of South 
America, the results hitherto are still less encourag- 
ing, for the prospects of sudden emancipation (even 
under highly favourable physical circumstances) of 
a people not duly prepared to enjoy political in- 
dependence. 

It is true that some essential features of resem- 
blance are wanting to render the parallel between 
the United States and South America complete. 
It has been objected that the South American re- 
publics form several distinct and independent coun- 
tries, jealous of each other, and often as opposed 
by interests as different in habits; while, at the 
same time, they are separated by immense distances 
and natural obstacles. Yet the South American 
governments are more entirely the scions of the 
common stock than the states of the North 
American union, — they are almost exclusively of 
Spanish origin, speaking the same language and hav- 
ing the same religion ; nor are they more disunited 
by distance, climate, or local interests, than the 
northern population of the United States are dis- 
tinct from their southern fellow-citizens ; added to 
which, many of the states of the union do not, even 



\ 



76 

at the present day, assimilate either in language, 
habits, or religion.* 

Why should the governments of South America 
not have vs^orked so well as that of North America, 
unless from this want of previous habits of in- 
dependence in the majority of the population, and 
a total ignorance of practical self-government? 
The same want of political experience was observ- 

* New York was the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, and at 
this moment many of the old Dutch families of New York are 
among the first in the union. On the occasion of a late visit of 
the minister of the King of Holland, M. Bangemann Huygens, to 
Albany, speeches and toasts, at dinners given to him in that capi- 
tal, were made and replied to in the original language of the colony, 
which is still as familiar to many of the old families in New 
York as English j or, if we may rely upon the veracious History 
of Knickerbocker, much more so. In Pennsylvania, as well as 
many other states, there are great numbers of Germans, Swedes, 
and Finns, &c. or their descendants. In Louisiana, the language 
is principally French or Spanish ; indeed many of the natives of 
that state do not understand English : in Florida, Spanish is gen- 
eral. The religion of the latter states is chiefly catholic : Mary- 
land is also principally inhabited by catholics. In parts of New 
England the descendants of the puritans still retain much of their 
former strictness in religious duties. The followers of Penn 
are still numerous in Pennsylvania, and the tables in the Appen- 
dix will serve to show that there are about half as many different 
religious denominations as are enumerated by Evans in his 
" Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian World;" yet, not- 
withstanding these apparently discordant elements, the system of 
a federal union, combined with popular institutions, for which 
the majority of the population were previously prepared by their 
political education, has hitherto produced very different results 
from those of a similar experiment in South America. 



77 

able in many of the theorists of the liberal party 
.who appeared in Spain at the time of the Cortez, 
and was one of the principal* domestic causes of 
its little internal stability. 

A succinct and able expose of the present state 
of the finances of the United States is to be found 
in the " Report" of Mr M'Lane (late envoy at this 
court, and now secretary of the treasury at Wash- 
ington), submitted to congress last December. 
There are few nations who, at any period of their 
history, can refer to such an encouraging statement 
as is there given, or can look forward to fairer 
prospects of financial prosperity than are clearly 
presented by this report. 

In this paper Mr M'Lane recommends the sale 
of certain stocks, held by the government of the 
United States, to the amount of eight millions of 
dollars ; he having clearly shown that they possess 
the disposable means at present of reimbursing the 
whole of the public debt before the 3d of March 
1833. The objects connected with the early re- 
imbursement of the public debt being, as he justly 
remarks, more important than the interests of the 
government as mere stockholders. 

* There is little doubt, however, that the foundation of a solid 
constitutional government would have been laid in Spain, but for 
the last interference of a foreign power to aid the views of one 
party in the state. 



78 

The obstacles to this arrangement consist in the 
inexpediency of throwing so large an amount into 
the public market, to obviate which a satisfactory 
arrangement with the Bank of the United States 
itself is suggested : and should his plans be adopted, 
the total annihilation of the public debt, on or be- 
fore the 3d March 1833 may be effected; after 
which period, the amount of revenue applicable 
to that object will, of course, no longer be re- 
quired. He thus comments upon this prospect : 

" The moral influence which such an example 
would necessarily produce throughout the world, 
in removing apprehension, and inspiring new con- 
fidence in our free institutions, cannot be questioned, 
seventeen years ago our country emerged from an 
expensive war, incumbered with a debt of more 
than one hundred and twenty-seven millions, and 
in a comparatively defenceless state. In this short 
period it has promptly repealed all the direct and 
internal taxes which were imposed during the war, 
relying mainly upon revenue derived from imposts, 
and sales of the public domain. From these 
sources, besides providing for the general expendi- 
ture, the frontier has been extensively fortified, the 
naval and maritime resources strengthened, and part 
of the debt of gratitude to the survivors of the re- 
volutionary war discharged. We have, moreover, 



79 

contributed a large share to the general improve- 
ment, added to the extent of the union, by the pur- 
chase of the valuable territory of Florida, and final- 
ly, acquired the means of extinguishing the heavy 
debt incurred in sustaining the late war, and all 
remains of the debt of the revolution. 

" The anxious hope with which the people have 
looked forward to this period, not less than the 
present state of the public mind, and the real in- 
terests of the community at large, recommend the 
prompt application of these means to that great 
object, if it can be done consistently with a proper 
regard for other important considerations." 

Mr M'Lane proceeds to state that the estimated 
revenue for the expenditure of the government of 
the United States as at present authorized, need not 
exceed annually the very moderate sum of thirteen 
and a half millions of dollars. But he judiciously 
recommends appropriations in addition to this sum, 
for certain objects, some of which have long since 
excited the attention of all observers of American 
affairs, on either shore of the Atlantic, as urgently 
claiming the assisting care of the government of 
the United States. He thus enumerates the most 
prominent of these objects : 

" For augmenting the naval and military resour- 
ces 5 extending the armouries ; arming the militia 



80 

of the several states ; increasing the pay and emolu- 
ments of the navy officers to an equality with those 
of the army, and providing them with the means 
of nautical instruction ; enlarging the navy hospital 
fund ; strengthening the frontier defences ; remov- 
ing obstructions from the western waters, for mak- 
ing accurate and complete surveys of the coast, 
and for improving the coasts and harbours of the 
union, so as to afford greater facilities to the com- 
merce and navigation of the United States. The 
occasion would also be a favourable one for con- 
structing custom-houses and warehouses in the 
principal commercial cities, in some of which they 
are indispensably necessary for the purposes of the 
revenue; and likewise providing for the proper, 
permanent accommodation of the courts of the 
United States and their officers. 

" In many districts the compensation of the offi- 
cers of the customs, in the present state of com- 
merce, is insufficient for their support, and inade- 
quate to their services. As a part of the general 
system, and effectually to guard the revenue, the 
services of such officers are necessary, without re- 
gard to the amount of business, and it is believed 
expedient to make their allowance commensurate 
with the vigilance required and the duties to 
be performed. A further improvement may be 



81 

made in the mode of compensating the officers of 
the customs, by substituting salaries for fees in all 
the collection districts, by which, at a comparatively 
small expense to the treasury, commerce and navi- 
gation w^ould be relieved from burthens, always 
inconvenient, if not oppressive. 

" It is believed that the public property and offi- 
ces at the seat of government require improvement 
and extension, and that further appropriations might 
be made to adapt them to the increasing business 
of the country. 

" The salaries of the public ministers abroad must 
be acknowledged to be utterly inadequate, either for 
the dignity of the office, or the necessary comforts 
of their families. At some foreign courts,* and 

* The salary of a minister from the United States to any for- 
eign court is about 2000Z., with an outfit of the same sum. The 
consequence of this utter inadequacy of appointments, for sup- 
porting the position necessarily occupied by a foreign minister, 
either in London, Paris, Petersburgh, or Madrid, or any of the 
expensive residences is, that no minister will be found to remain 
long at any of these courts, unless he can afford to spend at least 
as much again as the salary from his government. In London, 
for instance, in the case of two American ministers, whose ex- 
penses I happened to know, it was obvious that half their appoint- 
ments went to defray the expense of two items alone of their 
establishment, viz. house-rent and equipage. In Madrid there 
are many articles of comparatively trifling expense in other coun- 
tries, that are there extremely expensive. The utter insufliciency 
of the salaries of the American foreign ministers has long been 
felt in the United States ; but it is very difficult to make the 
members of congress from the remoter parts of the union com- 

L 



82 

those whose relations towards the United States are 
the most important, the expenses incident to the 
station are found so hurthensome, as only to be met 
by the private resources of the minister. The ten- 
dency of this is to throw those high trusts altogether 
into the hands of the rich, which is certainly not 
according to the genius of our system. Such a 
provision for public ministers as would obviate those 
evils, and enable the minister to perform the com- 
mon duties of hospitality to his countrymen, and 
promote social intercourse between the citizens of 
both nations, would not only elevate the character 
of his country, but essentially improve its public 
relations. 

"In addition to these objects, further provision 

prehend the extreme difference in tlie scale of expenditure, abso- 
lutely necessary in Europe (to enable a foreign minister properly 
to support his position), from that to which they have been accus- 
tomed. 

Mr M'Gregor, in his very useful work on British America, 
furnishes an additional proof, if any were wanting, of the extreme 
inaccuracy with which foreigners sometimes, with the best inten- 
tions, represent the afiairs of other countries. Mr M'Gregor has 
every wish to do justice to the United States, and is generally 
very correct in his descriptions ; we find^ however, the following 
errors (possibly typographical). " The salary of the President is 
25,000 dollars, or about 4,000Z." (it is equivalent to between 5 
and 6,000Z.); Vice-President 5,000 dollars, or about 1,000/." (!) 
Afterwards he says, '• Foreign ministers receive 800/." whereas 
they receive about 2,000/. It is a pity that these errata were 
allowed to remain. Vide M'Gregor, Vol. I. p. 45. 



83 

may be made for those officers and soldiers of the 
revolution who are yet spared as monuments of 
that patriotism and self-devotion, to which, under 
Providence, we owe our multiplied blessings." 

Yet with a view to effect all these highly neces- 
sary and important objects, together with some 
others relating to such internal improvements as are 
within the control of the congress ; and the whole 
estimated expenses of the government, an annual 
revenue of 15,000,000 dollars will suffice, or not 
3,500,000/. The whole expenditure of the fede- 
ral government will consequently hardly exceed 
one dollar for each individual annually throughout 
the union. 

It must be allowed that, considering the advan- 
tages and security to individuals, found in America, 
and the efficient manner in which all her diploma- 
tic, military, and other services are conducted, and 
that this estimate contemplates an increase in the 
expenses and remunerations in some of the depart- 
ments of the government, this is an inconceivably 
small sum. 

It is therefore with surprise we find some writers 
in Europe who broadly assert that the ideas enter- 
tained of the economy of the government of the 
United States are complete delusions, and that they 
are founded upon an entire ignorance of the sub- 



84 

ject. Thus the author of an article in the Revue 
Brifannique, speaking of the supposed " cheap gov- 
ernment of the United States," — "C'est la une 
phrase faite, un lieu commun de notre eloquence 
parlementaire, et qui, comme beaucoup d'autres, 
repose entierement sur une erreur. Ce qui est fort 
etrange, c'est que cette phrase a ete jetee dans la 
circulation par des hommes qui ont visite les Etats 
Unis, et qui entretienment avec ceux de leurs 
citoyens qui viennent en Europe des relations jour- 
nalieres. Elle n'en annonce pas moins une igno- 
rance complete de ce qui s'y passe ; c'est ce qu'il 
nous sera facile de demontrer."* 

I confess that it does not appear to me very sin- 
gular that this assertion of the cheapness of the 
government of the United States should be made 
principally by those who have had opportunities of 
personally examining the nature of the American 
system, as I fully participate (after passing some 
years in the United States) in that opinion. If the 
author means to say that it is a government suited 
to few other countries, it would certainly not be so 

* " This has become a set phrase, a common-place of our par- 
liamentary eloquence, and which, like many others, is founded 
solely on error. It is very singular that this phrase has been 
made current by men who have visited the United States, and 
who are in the habits of daily intercourse with such of their citi- 
zens as come to Europe. It betrays, nevertheless, a complete 
ignorance of what is passing there, which it will not be difficult 
for us to prove." 



85 

easy to contradict him : but as to its comparative 
economy, there can be little doubt that both 
theoretically and practically it is the cheapest 
government that could be established in a country 
of such extent, in the present day. The Quarterly 
Revievs^er, however, expresses a very different opin- 
ion (the Revue Britannique coinciding through- 
out with that journal) ; and Captain Hall points out 
the supposed key to this alleged costliness of the 
government of the United States, namely, that each 
state having a separate government and jurisdiction, 
we are misled by quoting the expenditure of the 
federal government alone as the whole burden borne 
by the people of the United States to defray the 
national charges. 

It is quite necessary to bear in mind the state- 
expenditures, in estimating the share of public 
charge borne by each individual in the United States, 
but in the tables appended to Captain Hall's Travels 
(Vol. HI.), the nature of these expenses is com- 
pletely misunderstood, as they are carried to ac- 
count in gross, as charges directly borne by the 
population. 

In the course of the following pages the state- 
ments published in the Quarterly Review, Revue 
Britannique^ &c. will be examined in some detail, 
and it will not perhaps be difficult to show whence the 
errors have arisen in the estimates above alluded to. 



86 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Statements of Quarterly Review on the subject of United States 
examined. — Supposed insecurity of property. — Conservative 
elements. 

In an article entitled "progress of misgovernment," 
which appeared in the Quarterly Review,* a sum- 
mary is given of the financial arrangements of the 
United States. On perusing this statement, I was 
surprised at the result which the reviewer deduces 
from his calculations, the data of which seem to be 
principally taken from the statistical tables ap- 
pended to Captain Basil Hall's Travels. The writer 
of this article assumes, that it would be a great 
error to suppose that " the government of the United 
States is economical, and that it is, in fact, in pro- 
portion to its population, as expensive as that of 
Great Britain, or more so." As the whole article 
is redolent of party spirit, and evidently written 
with a view to influence public opinion on sub- 
jects connected with the great measure of reform, 
the passages in question should not perhaps be re- 
garded as containing positive statistical statements 

* Vide No. XCII. p. 594, Jan. 1832. 



87 

relating merely to the American financial system, 
but rather as the special pleading of a counsel, 
whose object is by no means to lay the whole case 
clearly and fairly before the public. Perhaps this 
may be thought as justifiable in political as in legal 
arguments. 

The mistatements and singular inaccuracies 
contained in the article "Progress of Misgovern- 
ment" on the subject of America, are doubtless 
not the result of a wish to deceive the public mind 
with regard to the real position of that country. 
The whole article offers internal evidence that its^ 
author is personally and practically unacquainted 
with the people and country of which he speaks, 
and adds another to the thousand and one instances 
of the most erroneous inferences beins: drawn from 
data depending solely on hearsay or printed infor- 
mation, particularly where a favourite theory is in 
view, and that theory founded, of course, on con- 
viction, but also turned to aid the arguments of 
party, with the unhesitating vehemence of political 
opposition. 

With somewhat similar zeal for the dissemination; 
of their own principles, and a corresponding want 
of practical acquaintance with the nature of Euro- 
pean governments, I have heard Americans gravely 
wondering at the blindness of the English, or of 



88 

other nations, in not adopting republican institutions 
and forms of government in all their extent, and 
not only arguing for the practicability of such 
adoption, but foretelling its speedy accomplishment. 
It is true, that in conversing with many of those 
who have visited this country, and even, with the 
better informed Americans, who never had any 
opportunities of judging personally of the state of 
things in England, I have found them as well aware 
of the utter unfitness and impracticability of a 
republican government in England as any sane 
Englishman. 

If, however, the article in question be not put 
forward as an ex parte statement, but as expressing 
the bond fide opinions or the reviewer, it is diffi- 
cult to conceive how so ingenious a writer can have 
imbibed such erroneous impressions as his state- 
ments are calculated to convey ; the mystification 
must be laid to the account of his sources of infor- 
mation, the writer of this article having evidently 
never been in the United States; this appears at 
once, not only from the financial expose which he 
gives, but more particularly from the preceding 
part of his paper, in which he treats incidentally 
of the stability of the institutions of America, and 
the security of property in that country. After 
insinuating that passing the reform bill will be the 



89 

first step towards attacking '-property itself in its 
details, if not the principle of property in England," 
he instances the United States as an example of 
the insecurity to property resulting from a govern- 
ment supported by a '^numerical majority. ^^ 

The object of these remarks is not to discuss the 
merits of the reform bill ; but as an illustration of 
any direct or indirect attack upon that measure, it 
seems that there could not have been a more unfor- 
tunate argument for an opponent of reform than 
this allusion to the degree of stability of property 
in the United States. Americans, or even those 
who have passed sufficient time in the United 
States to become practically acquainted with the 
nature and working of its institutions, will perhaps 
only smile at the predictions of a "time not being 
far distant when the majority shall attack the cause 
of property, as at variance with their own interests," 
and at the hints about a sort of agrarian law, &c., 
which appear in this article. But the extreme 
ignorance that in fact prevails in this country and 
in Europe generally on all that relates to the inter- 
nal organization of government and society in the 
United States, is such as to give some currency to 
opinions and prognostics as totally unfounded as 
these, particularly when supported by such an 
authority as that of the Quarterly. 

M 



90 

It will be my endeavour in the course of these 
remarks to point out the errors in the financial 
statements of the Quarterly, after first noticing some 
of the preliminary observations. 

There is no country, he says, where "property 
imll be so entirely and immediately at the mercy of 
those who may have, or fancy they have, an interest 
in assailing it, as soon as that body shall be suffi- 
ciently numerous to form the preponderating class 
in the community. 

If an American w^ere to reply to these remarks, 
I could suppose him doing so somewhat in the 
following manner : 

Property is much subdivided, and in the free- 
hold possession of an immense number of individu- 
als in America; the moneyed institutions, — banks, 
both of the United States and of each particular 
state, — canal stock, rail-roads, public or state under- 
takings, and works of a like nature, as mining asso- 
ciations, bridge companies, steam-boats, &c., ofTer 
opportunities for even the smallest capital to be 
advantageously invested ; so that the Americans of 
every class, profiting by these institutions, have 
almost all more or less a direct or prospective inter- 
est in upholding the present system of their coun- 
try, and it would, in truth, be difficult to find the 



91 

'^numerical majority^'' which the reviewer antici- 
pates, opposed to the principle of property. 

Besides, the Quarterly subsequently points out 
" three great causes" for that security of property 
which has hitherto existed, that would seem to place 
the period predicted at an immense distance, viz. 
1st, the " inexhaustible fund of unoccupied land," 
preventing the pressure of want; 2d, "the federal 
mechanism of its constitution, and the strict limita- 
tion of the powers of congress ; and, 3d, and lastly, 
the continually recurring interest of the presidential 
and subordinate elections. There is no apparent 
reason why these " conservative elements" should 
not have their effect for many centuries to come. 
In other places the reviewer finds much to condemn 
in the two latter elements, yet allows that but for 
them " the constitution of the United States could 
scarcely have existed unharmed a year ;" i. e. that 
without some of its most essential features it would 
be much less advantageous than it is, in practice ; 
which I think that no American will be disposed 
to contradict. Indeed, notwithstanding the mul- 
titude of defects which the Quarterly, in many 
successive numbers has discovered in the constitu- 
tion of the United States, not only as an object of 
imitation for other governments, in which he may 
be right, but what is very different, as per se bad 



92 

for the Americans, he makes as complete an amende 
as any zealous republican could require, in these 
words: — '-It is a scheme" (bad as it is!) "with 
which, indeed, the Americans may well be con- 
tented ; for one better fitted to their situation it 
might not have been very easy, if possible, to de- 
vise." Notwithstanding this high eulogium, it is 
asserted in the article : — 1st, that the law is opposed 
to large inheritances, and that laws have been made 
with a view to encroach on the rights of property ; 
2d, a general approaching division of property is 
hinted at; 3dly, that in spite of its advantages, 
the government is barely able to preserve its vital- 
ity against the destroying power (?) within itself. 
The " federal" or " conservative" power is almost 
extinct : the democratic party, i. e. the numerical 
majority, having so much increased. 4thly, that 
with the " inexhaustible fund of unoccupied land," 
the time is not far distant, — notwithstanding the 
"conservative" elements enumerated by the Quar- 
terly, apparently in full vigour, and likely to con- 
tinue so, and although this is the best possible sort 
of government for the United States, — the time is 
not far distant when the 10,000,000," or it might 
at once be 13,000,000 — for "no opposition," he 
says above, " to the prevailing system now exists," 
— will exercise despotic tyranny. It is difficult to 



93 

say over whom, as the " single despot," placed, by 
the reviewer, in contrast with the millions, exists 
but as a figure of speech. 

An American might fairly be justified in thus 
commenting upon the observations in the Quar- 
terly. 



94 



CHAPTER IX. 

United States government well suited to the American people.— 
Testamentary disposition not interfered with by the laws.^ 
Division of property. — Conservative principle of American gov- 
ernment resides in numerical majority — Public lands. 

But the reviewer will find many to agree with him 
in his former position, viz. "the Americans may 
well be content with their form of government, 
in conjunction with the three happy circumstances" 
which he enumerates, it would indeed not have 
been possible to devise one better adapted to their 
country ; although even this is thought by him to 
be on the eve of dissolution. The objections which 
neutralize this fair assertion require some examina- 
tion. 

First, the law imposes* no restrictions on the 
power of devising property by testament. A man 
may leave all to his eldest son, or divide it as he 
pleases, reserving, however, the widow's dowry. 

The law does not interfere with the possession 
or employment of property in any way : the late 
Stephen Girard,t a merchant and banker at Phila- 

* The reviewer possibly thought that the French law on testa- 
ments was modelled upon that of the United States. 

t See an art. in the New Monthly for April 1832, on M. Girard. 



95 

delphia, is a striking example of this. He died 
worth at least one million and a half or two mil- 
lions sterling*. A great deal of property in houses 
and land, in the very heart of Philadelphia, be- 
longed to him ; and I recollect an immense square, 
in a fine situation for building, in that city, which re- 
mained inclosed within high paling, unoccupied and 
unbuilt upon, and applied to no useful purpose for 
years, and so remaining, I believe, until his death, a 
few months ago, from some whim of its proprietor, 
although " there chanced to be a great many neigh- 
bours around him to whom the possession of the land 
would have been convenient." I do not instance this 
as a solitary case, and might adducef others without 
end to prove the complete power of accumulation 
and disposal of property in the hands of any individ- 
ual ; but the example of Girard is the more apposite, as 
he was neither a popular man in manners or habits|, 

* Report says near fifteen millions of dollars, or upwai'ds of 
three millions sterling. 

t At New York there is a gentleman supposed to be of equal 
wealth with the late Girard (also acquired solely by his own ex- 
ertions), although not of the same singular habits. It would be 
a violation of the consideration due to private life to say more 
than that I allude to Mr J. Astor, known as the founder of a col- 
ony on the Colombia river. 

X Without being miserly, he was very simple and economical 
in his habits. I have heard, that when he arrived in Philadelphia 
from France, he was in such humble circumstances that he ob- 
tained a living by selling sand and sawing wood in the streets ; 



96 

nor politically of the slightest weight or impor- 
tance, notwithstanding his immense wealth. 

It is certain, however, that the principles and 
habits of the people generally are opposed to leav- 
ing the bulk of their fortune to the eldest, or to 
any one of their children to the exclusion of the 
others ; and although there are exceptions, yet the 
rule in practice in the United States is to divide 
equally or nearly so, the property among all the 
sons and daughters ; this is from choice and ifeeling 
the usage and not hy law, excepting when a man 
dies intestate. But it must be remembered, that 
in a republic, without hereditary titles or honours 
to support, and with a wide and fair field for the 
exertion of talent and enterprise, this usage has not 
the inconvenience to individuals that Europeans gen- 
erally may suppose, nor is it liable to many of the 
practical objections which exist to its adoption in 
countries like ours. 

Secondly, that an agrarian law, or any thing ap- 
proaching to it, is likely to become practicable or 
popular in the United States, or that it should even 
be proposed, is so extremely improbable, that one 
is inclined to suspect that the allusion to it is not 

at the time lie was between thirty and forty years of age. He 
used to affirm that the great difficulty in life is to amass the first 
forty dollars ; that afterwards, a man, who is not a fool, can al- 
ways grow rich. Some very munificent acts of his are on record. 



97 

made seriously. Those alone who are totally un- 
acquainted with the state of the American com- 
munity could for a moment entertain an idea of 
its possibility, and they have only to reflect upon a 
few circumstances to convince themselves of its 
utter want of foundation. The sub-division of old, 
and appropriation of new property,* going on (with 
few exceptions) almost jmri passu with the increase 
of population, i. e. in the same relative proportion, 
extends its effects throughout the uniwi. Also it 
should be remembered (and this applies to the 
third objection, viz. " that the ' vitality' of the actual 
government of the United States can scarcely be 
preserved by the 'federal or conservative' party, 
now ' all but extinct,' against the prevailing system, 
or democracy^'), the interests of the numerical ma- 
jority are on the side of the prevailing system, and 
not opposed to its 'vitality.' The name or watch- 
word of a party may be ' conservative,' ' federal,' 
or tory, it matters little as a distinctive appellation ; 
but if we look to the meaning of words, it may not 
be difficult to show that in a republic, at least in 

He was, although uneducated, a man of strong natural good sense 
and ability, like most of those men who have amassed great wealth 
from low beginnings. 

* By this is meant, the property or moneyed associations in the 
older states in contra-distinction to that in the recently settled 
country. 

N 



98 

such a government as that of the United States, the 
' conservative' principle is to be found on the pop- 
ular side ; it resides with the ' numerical majority,' 
opposed alike to aristocratic, despotic, or military 
governments, as to anarchy or disorder ; and that 
country owes its strength, the vigour and the effi- 
ciency of its administration, ' its vitality,' precisely 
to this popular principle. 

It might, on the other hand, not be difficult to 
maintain in arguing on the affiiirs of England, that 
this "conservative" principle may be found to re- 
side in a very different party : in a monarchy, and 
where political power is vested exclusively in the 
aristocratic or moneyed interests, the arguments on 
this subject are founded on a totally different basis. 
But the reasoning of the " Quarterly" is on the 
system of the United States, to which its applica- 
bility appears more than doubtful. 

It has been asserted in parliament, and elsewhere, 
as well as in the " Quarterly," that a " conservative" 
principle, analogous to that which is the supposed 
safeguard of our constitution, has been found in that 
provision* of the American constitution, in virtue 

* ARTICLE V. OF CONSTITUTION OF UNITED STATES. 

" The congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem 
it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution ; or, 
on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several 



99 

of which no change is to he eflfected in it hut hy a 
concurrence of two-thinU of all the legislative hodies 
of the union in demanding such change, and the 
consent of three-fourths to its ratification ; and also 
in the rule, by which, in certain cases, a majority 
of two-thirds of the senate of the United States is 
required for the adoption of measures of political 
importance. But I think on examination that this 
provision will be found to contain a few elements 
in common with the principle that is generally ad- 
vocated by the " Quarterly" as being " conservative." 
At first sight it certainly appears that when a ma- 
jority, wanting but one or two votes of the requisite 
two-thirds, is forced to yield to the wishes of a 
smaller party in the nation or senate, a modification 
of the oligarchical principle is perceptible ; the mi- 
nority, in fact, carrying their point. But let a 
question of great public interest arise, a question 
which awakens the attention, and calls forth the 
energies of the mass of the people in its support, 
and, in a government constituted like that of Amer- 
ica, it will be found that the necessary majorities 
will never be wanting. 

states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, 
in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part 
of this constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three- 
fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths 
thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be pro- 
posed by the congress," &.c. &c. 



100 

It may be a conservative principle, but it is one 
that in effect has its foundation in the necessity of 
placing beyond a doubt the general assent to any 
measure of vital importance by the great prepon- 
derance required, and thus virtually amounts to an 
extension of the principle of governing in accordance 
to the will of the " numerical majority'^ 

Fourthly. The rapid diminution of the public 
lands will, in the course of time, doubtless alter 
materially the moral and political aspect of America. 
Still the closing up of this " safety-valve," as it has 
been called, of the constitution of the United States 
must, in all human probability, be remote. The 
Quarterly is almost justified in calling this an "in- 
exhaustible fund." The government of the United 
States possesses, in round numbers, one thousand 
millions of acres of unoccupied land ; and, making 
ample allowance for those parts which are unfruit- 
ful or inconvertible to useful purposes, it will be 
probably long before its population becomes incon- 
veniently crowded. 

Up to the present time, twenty millions of acres 
have been sold ; about the same number has been 
granted by congress for education, internal improve- 
ment, &c. ; and about eighty millions are in the 
market, i. e. surveyed, valued, &c. Some estimate 
may be formed, from the amount of appropriation 



101 

of public lands during more than half a century, 
of the ratio which these available resources bear to 
the wants of an increasing population. At the 
rate of one million of acres every year, there will 
be, allowing for a progressively increasing demand, 
ample space and "verge enough" for speculation on 
the durability of American institutions, in so far as 
they depend upon this resource.* 

* For some account of the public lands, see Chap. XVI. 



102 



CHAPTER X. 

Revue Britannique on Finances of the United States. — Letters 
of General Bernard and Mr F. Cooper, published by General 
Lafayette, containing answers to the statements of Revue 
Britannique. 

In the month of June 1831, there appeared an 
article in the Revue Britannique published in Paris, 
on the finances of France and the United States, in 
which the expenses of the French and American 
governments were compared, in a similar spirit 
to that of the Quarterly. The result of this com- 
parison was asserted to be that, notwithstanding the 
supposed economy of the American republic, its ex- 
penses exceeded, proportionately to its population, 
those of the French monarchy. As this unexpected 
statement was made public at a moment when the 
French budget was under discussion in the Cham- 
ber of Deputies, and clearly with a view to in- 
fluence public opinion on so important a subject, it 
attracted much attention. General Lafayette, bet- 
ter acquainted with the real nature of the American 
government than any of his colleagues, and natu- 
rally more desirous, both on public grounds and from 
private feeling, of placing the subject in its true 



103 

light than perhaps any of his countrymen, would 
have doubtless been well qualified to reply to the 
assertions of the Revue Britannique. He prefer- 
red, however, addressing two of his friends, in order 
to obtain such a statement as their intimate ac- 
quaintance with the financial details of the United 
States, and recent personal observation of them, 
would enable them at once to afford. 

He thus elicited a counter-statement from two 
gentlemen, whose opportunities for forming a cor- 
rect judgment on the statistics of the United States 
are undoubted, and whose competency in every 
sense, to furnish accurate information, few will be 
inclined to dispute. Mr F. Cooper, of New York, 
well known as the author of several excellent 
works, wrote a letter, addressed to General Lafay- 
ette, in answer to the statements of the Revue 
Britannique ; and General Bernard, formerly Napo- 
leon's confidential aide-de-camp (and subsequently 
several years in the service of the United States, 
until the revolution of 1830 afforded him an op- 
portunity of returning to his native country, without 
compromising either the integrity of his principles, 
or the delicacy of his feelings), also answered Gen- 
eral Lafayette's appeal by an able comparative 
statement on the budgets and financial arrangements 
of the American and French governments. 



104 

By taking the statements of these gentlemen as 
a guide, on the subject of the French national ex- 
penditure as compared with that of the United 
States, we also obtain data which much assist us in 
estimating their relative proportion to the expenses 
of our own government. 

It is somewhat remarkable that both the writer 
in the Revue Britannique and the author of the 
article, " Progress of Misgovernment," in the Quar- 
terly, take very nearly the same views of the finan- 
cial and political systems of the United States, and 
(although differing in some of their details, particu- 
larly in their mode of instituting their comparisons) 
apparently with similar party views. In short, 
they wish to give such a description of what they, 
doubtless, conceive to be the real expenses of a 
popular government, as shall prove that the ideas 
generally entertained of their practical economy are 
little better than popular errors. 

In effect, however, it appears, upon an examina- 
tion of facts and details (the only way in statistical 
matters to get at a correct result), that it would 
be the grossest self-delusion to rely upon the con- 
gratulatory assurances of the Quarterly and of the 
Revue Britannique, as to the comparative economy 
of the governments of America and those of Eng- 
land and France. Unfortunately, neither theory 



105 

nor practice, founded upon such erroneous data, 
can lead to good results, whether in peace or war, 
whether in a friendly or hostile feeling, as reliance 
upon them produces but a false estimate of the re- 
sources and efficiency of a powerful and rapidly 
increasing state. Relations with foreign govern- 
ments are likely to be most judiciously regulated 
when their real relative positions, particularly on 
so vitally important a subject as finance, are well 
understood ; at least it appears to me that no useful 
purpose can be served by misapprehension on this 
point, still less by any attempt to mystify the sub- 
ject. 

The writer of the article in the Revue Britan- 
nique, to w^hich I have alluded, has ventured boldly 
to institute a comparison generally between the 
aggregate burdens borne by the French nation to 
defray the expenses of the state, and those which 
Americans support for a similar purpose : he even 
includes in his comparative estimate the military 
and naval establishments, foreign relations, and, in 
a word, all the items of the national budgets of 
the two countries. 

He calculates that the annual sum of the whole 
of the public charges paid by each inhabitant of the 
United States is thirty-five francs^ while in France 
it is but thirty-one francs, 
o 



106 

The Quarterly Review does not attempt a gen- 
eral comparison between the expenses of Great 
Britain and those of the United States ; but taking 
certain items of the respective national expenditures, 
comes to a prospective conclusion, that if the expen- 
ditures are not quite equal at present, yet when 
the population of the United States shall equal that 
of Great Britain, these items, by a jyro rafo increase, 
will, if pftr//«mew/«r?/ pensions he omitted^ exceed 
the equivalent expenses in this country by 57,378/., 
and ivith this item, only fall short of our expendi- 
ture by 166,365/. He proceeds also to estimate 
the expenses of the church in the two countries, 
and the result is, according to him, equally favour- 
able to the economy of our ecclesiastical establish- 
ment, considered as an item of state expenditure. 
With regard to the administration of justice, he 
gives no positive estimate, but affirms, that there is 
every reason to believe that the "judiciary" expen- 
diture of America exceeds that of England. 

Captain B. Hall (from whose statistical tables, 
at the end of the third volume of his Travels in 
the United States, the Quarterly Reviewer seems 
to have taken almost all his positive information) 
makes the total aggregate amount of charge to each 
individual in the United States on an average of 
three years, 1825, 6, 7, to be 12s. 4jrf., in which 



107 

he does not include the expense of religious estab- 
lishments. 

On the other hand, General Bernard, after going 
over the statement of the Revue Britannique in 
some detail, comes to a conclusion that the total 
amount of the annual public expense to each indi- 
vidual in the United States (leaving out the eccle- 
siastical expenses, and some incidental items) is 
1 1 francs 47 centimes, while that of each French 
inhabitant is 28 francs 12 centimes. 

Mr Cooper, who premises that he rather exagge- 
rates than diminishes the sum in his calculations, 
makes the amount of annual charge paid by each 
citizen of the United States 14 francs 5 centimes, 
including support of clergy, poor, &c. 

It should be mentioned that the Revue makes 
out its calculations for the year 1829 ; that General 
Bernard and Mr Cooper take 1830 — and that the 
latter gentleman speaks only of the citizen of New 
York, where, however, the state expenditure is 
among the highest in the whole union, and the cler- 
ical expenses probably quite the largest. Captain 
B. Hall's estimate, as I before mentioned, is on an 
average of three years, 1 825, 6, 7, and the Quarterly 
founds its calculations principally upon the data of 
Captain Hall. 

In endeavouring to show how such very differ- 



108 

ent results are brought about by these writers, I 
shall have occasion to offer some remarks, which 
(particularly those that are suggested by the letters 
of General Bernard and Mr Cooper) will, I trust, 
assist the reader to form a judgment on the real 
nature of the statistics of the United States. 



109 



CHAPTER XI. 

General Bernard's remarks.— Department of state and foreign 
affairs. — War department. — -Treasury department. — Adminis- 
tration centrale, &c. — State expenses. — Tolls and public roads. 
— Clergy. — Militia. — Summary. — Mean expense to each indi- 
vidual in France and America of public charges. — Extract from 
General Bernard's letter- 

General Bernard observes with great truth, that 
in comparing the public expenditure of two such 
countries as France and the American union, placed 
under such essentially different circumstances, not 
only is industrious research necessary, but a perfect 
knowledge of their respective financial systems. 
But to expose the inaccuracy and exaggeration of 
the Revue Britannique, he thinks it unnecessary to 
do more than to lay before his readers some posi- 
tive data, which he does in the form of an analysis 
of the French and American* budgets in parallel 
columns, with the corresponding items opposed to 
each other, so as to enable the reader at a glance 
to compare the amounts either in detail or other- 
wise. His valuation of the dollar is at 5 francs 
25 centimes. 

* Vide Appendix. 



110 

In examining the different items of the United 
States' budget, given by the general, it will be per- 
ceived that what is called the department of state 
corresponds to three df^partments of the French ad- 
ministration, viz. Les Ministtres des Affaires Etran- 
geres, ile la Justice^ et de Vlnterkur; and that a de- 
duction is made from the latter of 9 1 ,5 1 3,5 1 7 francs, 
appropriated to the ponts et chausees, mines, lignes, 
telegrajjJiiques, and public works, &c. 

It must also be observed that the war department 
of the United States includes some public works, 
internal improvement, and Indian affairs, which, 
being taken out of the calculation, make the rela- 
tive expenses 

Miiiistcve de la Guerre . . 187,200,000 fr. 
War department .... 20,929,372 fr. 85 c. 

In the treasury department he includes the pen- 
sions to the officers and soldiers of the revolution, 
and in the Ministere de la Finance, the pension list 
of France. 

The cost of the different public offices taken 
together {V administration centrale), compared with 
the whole budget, is in France 1-5 9th, or about 1 
and 7-lOths per cent; in the United States l-53d, 
or about 1 and 3-lOths per cent, which difference 
may be regarded as null, by bearing in mind that 
the expenses of this central administration must 



Ill 

diminish in its ratio to the whole budget, in propor- 
tion as the budget itself is augmented. 

With regard to the post-office of the United 
States, it must be observed that this is not a branch 
of public revenue — it is so managed as to cover its 
expenses — excepting those of the general post-of- 
fice establishment, clerks, Sec, i. e. r administration 
centrale, which is paid by the treasury. These ex- 
penses amount to l-30th part of the total expense. 
In France they are much higher. 

The expense of collecting the revenue, customs, 
&c. of France is about 1 1 per cent, that of the 
United States 3 and 4-lOths per cent; by taking 
together the expenses of administration, and those 
of collection of the revenue, compared with the 
whole budgets, we get for 

France .... 12 and 7-1 Oths per cent. 
United States . . 5 and 3-1 Oths per cent. 

Before General Bernard proceeds to examine in 
detail the calculations by which the author of the 
article in the Revue Britannique brings about a re- 
sult so extraordinary in his comparative estimate of 
the burdens borne by an inhabitant of France and 
an American, viz. that the public charge of the 

United States is, per head . . 35 francs. 
And in France • 31 do. 

he makes some general remarks, and says, with 
apparent justice, that there must be a great bias in 



112 

the judgment of any one who could suppose that 
under the numerous favourable circumstances upon 
which he touches, as the geographical position of 
the United States, the commercial prosperity, small 
standing army, varied products, non-interference 
in the wars which have cost so much to other 
countries, and particularly, that with the form of 
its government (which he characterises as "/es 
helles institutmis politiques qui regissent ce grand 
pays''), it is difficult to understand how any impartial 
person could come to this extravagant conclusion. 
" Pour arriver a cet etrange resultat,'' the author 
in the Revue asserts that the expenses of the dif- 
ferent state legislatures taken en masse are equal to 
the federal budget. Thus : 

Francs. 
Federal budget .... .131,000,000 

States (according to the Revue Britannique) 131,000,000 

Tolls, bridges, &c. . . . . 10,000,000 

Clergy ...... 30,000,000 

Militia in time of peace . . . 50,000,000 

Total 352,000,000 



He divides this sum by what he supposes to be 
the amount of the population of 1830, i. e. 
11,000,000, and thus obtains as the annual ex- 
pense for each individual thirty-five francs. 

The smallest error in this calculation is in the 



113 

amount of population for 1830. The census 
for which was, according to General Bernardj 
12,856,497. This, allowing the above calculations 
of the author, would give twenty-seven francs 
thirty centimes, instead of thirty-five francs. The 
general points out the sources of the extraordinary 
errors in the calculations of the reviewer, and 
makes many very judicious remarks, which, how- 
ever, as being chiefly made with a view to compar- 
ing the statistics of France with those of the United 
States, I shall only succinctly notice ; and all ob- 
servations on similar mistakes that have been made 
by the Quarterly and Captain Hall, shall be reserved 
until I come to examine their respective statements. 

First, The state expenses are made by the Revue 
Britannique to amount to 131,000,000 francs, in- 
stead of which the general, by a calculation which 
is noticed in another chapter, produces 16,970,576 
francs as the maximum of the aggregate state ex- 
penses of the union. Certainly a most remarkable 
difference. 

Secondly, With respect to the tolls and turn- 
pikes, this item might be fairly taken into consi- 
deration in a comparative estimate of the general 
expenditure of France and the United States, inas- 
much as, there being no turnpikes in the former 
country, all the expense of making and repairing 



114 

roads, &c. being included in the jwnts et chausses, 
travaux publics^ &c., while no corresponding item is 
to be found in the American budget. 

Under this head, Great Britain and the United 
States are on an equal footing ; as the expenses of 
the roads are defrayed by turnpikes in the same 
manner in both countries ; although from the much 
greater extent of steam navigation in America, less 
proportionately is paid by the inhabitants for the 
maintenance of roads in many states. In France 
it might also be remarked, that there are many 
bridges where tolls are paid, several in Paris ; and 
that after all, the expense must be defrayed by the 
community, whether by a general impost, as in 
France, or a mere local tax, as by turnpikes and 
tolls. The diiference is in the mode of collection, 
and the difficulty of course much greater in ascer- 
taining the total amount where the latter mode is 
in use. 

The whole extent of road on which a mail runs 
in the United States is computed, by General Ber- 
nard, at 41,225* leagues, of 25 to a degree. The 
tolls are generally high, both on roads and bridges, 
and this is the natural result of their having to ex- 
tend over an immense territory with a compara- 

* According to another more recent calculation, I find the dis- 
tance run by mails to be about 115,176 miles English. 



115 

tively small population ; the wages of labour being 
at the same time very high. 

In general terms General Bernard calculates that 
out of the whole number of leagues (41,225) of 
mail road in the United States, about 4000 are sub- 
ject to toll. Those upon which there are turnpikes 
are generally better kept in order than the other ; 
and some idea of the cost of their construction, &c. 
may be formed by the circumstance, that although 
the tolls are very high, yet they rarely bring more 
than 4 per cent, and often much less, on the cost 
of making. 

But these tolls being generally for the profit of 
private undertakings or companies, and constructed 
rather with a view to increase the value of land in 
particular districts, and for the advantage of com- 
mercial undertakings, than with a view to a pro- 
fitable direct investment of money, — are no more 
looked upon in America as public charges than the 
canal tolls, ferries, bridges, &c. are in France and 
England. Besides which, sometimes the general 
government, as well as particular states, apply large 
sums to the construction and repairs of public roads, 
and carry the items to the federal or state budgets. 

Thirdly, With regard to the clergy. General 
Bernard professes a complete disability to make 
any calculation, or comparison as to the annual 



116 

expenses borne by the population of the United 
States. As it forms no part of the national or state 
expenditure, but each religious community sup- 
porting its own clergyman, the same difficulty exists 
as would be found in ascertaining the amount of 
the incidental emoluments of the clergy in France, 
beyond what is appropriated to them in the budget, 
" s'il s'agissait iVajouter le casuel aux emolumens 
partes au hudget de Vetat.^' He, therefore, alto- 
gether avoids entering on the subject, as not think- 
ing himself competent to form any correct estimate 
upon it, and leaves out the ecclesiastical expenses 
of both countries in his calculations. 

Fourthly, He proceeds to examine the militia 
estimates, and on all subjects connected with the 
military organization of America, there can be no 
better authority than General Bernard. By certain 
hypotheses and calculations, which however are 
very erroneous, the Revue Britannique values at 
fifty millions of francs the expense of the militia 
service of the United States, and then adds this 
enormous over-charge to the budgets of the union 
and of the states ; but with singular inconsistency, 
or inadvertency, forgets to add the analogous ex- 
pense in the French budget, viz. that of the national 
guards. Indeed, nothing but errors of this magni- 
tude could have produced so false a conclusion as 



117 

that while a Frenchman pays but thirty-one francs 
annually to the expenses of the state, an American 
pays thirty-five. 

The organization of the American militia is pre- 
cisely the same as that of the national guards in 
France. They have four reviews at most, annually, 
and no other regular military service, the circum- 
stances of the country not requiring more. In case 
of invasion, the militia is no longer local^ but it is, 
like the garde nalionale, mobilisee. But the regu- 
lar troops are alone subject to be sent beyond the 
territory of their own country. The system is 
identically the same as that of France. 

Finally, He produces his statement of the ex- 
penses. — In the United States, 

Francs. c. 
Federal budget (including public debt) . 130,431,475 80 
State budget (borne bj the tax-pajers) . 16,970,576 GO 



Total . 147,402,051 80 

Dividing the sum by 12,856,479 (the popula- 
tion) he gets for the mean amount paid by each 
American, of public charge of every description, 
11 francs 47c. 

On the other hand, deducting from the French 
budget, 

Francs. 

1. The ecclesiastical expenses . . . 35,921,500 

2. Reimbursements and compensations which do not 

strictly form part of the public charge . 4 1,939,397 



118 

there remains a sum of 900,074,432 francs, which 
divided by 32,000,000 (population of France) gives 
as the amount paid by each inhabitant in France, 
the above mentioned expenses excepted, 28 fr. 12 c. 
But if we take away that which goes towards the 
public debts, we find that the American pays an- 
nually but 6 fr. 6 c, while the Frenchman pays 20 fr. 
37c. for the current expenses of the government. 
The general then makes some prospective esti- 
mates of the future financial arrangements of the 
United States (comparing them with those of 
France), which it is not now necessary to detail. 
But to show the light in which a man of great in- 
telligence, a soldier and a gentleman, in every way 
distinguished and estimable, considers the American 
union, after having passed many years in the coun- 
try, and with the best opportunities of observing 
its institutions narrowly, I shall give an extract 
from his letter to General Lafayette. The quiet, 
reasonable, and argumentative tone of General Ber- 
nard will contrast strongly with the intemperate 
vituperation of writers, w^hose favourite theories 
and predictions on the subject of the United States, 
not having been as yet verified, continue to repeat 
statements to which every succeeding year brings 
additional contradictions, and the fallacy of which 
becomes evident upon impartial examination. 



119 

General Bernard thus concludes his letter to 
General Lafayette : — " But, general, while we con- 
tinue to admire the excellent political institutions 
of the American union, and the remarkably enter- 
prising spirit of its citizens, we must acknowledge 
that other causes, quite as powerful, have at the 
same time singularly contributed to the astonishing 
prosperity of this growing empire. Situated, it may 
be said insulated, on another continent, separated 
from ours by the ocean, it is in its power to remain 
uninfluenced by the formidable difficulties that 
assail us in Europe; and even these difficulties, 
while they lead us into such disastrous wars, pro- 
duce indirectly incalculable advantages to the com- 
merce of America. Founded at a time when a 
high degree of civilization had already made much 
progress in England, the British Colonies of North 
America received with their origin political institu- 
tions, the principles of which actuate at the present 
day the governments of the United States, whilst in 
Europe much time and many sacrifices will be neces- 
sary, not only to obtain those institutions which the 
progress of intelligence demands, but even to enable 
those institutions to be justly appreciated, and above 
all to be well understood by the mass of mankind. 
Finally, the population of the union is at the pres- 
ent scattered over a territory of almost equal extent 



120 

with Europe (Russia, Sweden and Turkey except- 
ed) ; and in this immense and rich dominion, that 
multiplicity of custom-houses, and fiscal internal 
demarcations, which so much injure and clog the 
development of European industry, are not to be 
found. Europe is without doubt the finest portion of 
the world, the part which, on an equal given space 
or superficies, presents the most abundant resources 
of every kind ; but instead of mutually contributing 
to a common prosperity, the nations of Europe, ac- 
tuated by rivalries without end, pour out their blood 
and exhaust their treasure to destroy each other, 
and mutually paralyse their progress towards a bet- 
ter system. What a lesson for the American 
union ! when once this is destroyed, its ruins would 
soon fall into the same labyrinth of difficulties as 
at this moment disturbs and perplexes the nations 
of Europe." 



121 



CHAPTER XII. 

Capt. Hall's estimate of mean charge to each inhabitant of the 
United States. — Mr F. Cooper's remarks on the Revue Britan- 
nique. — Mr Cooper's estimate of mean public charge. 

Captain B. Hall, makes the total amount of what 
each person pays to the state and general govern- 
ments, on an average of three years, 1825-6-7, to be 
12«. 4jc?., which is much nearer the truth, it ap- 
pears to me, than either the calculations of the 
Revue Britanijique or those of the Quarterly. In- 
deed, differing from that gentleman toto ccelo as I 
do, in the impressions received from a residence in 
the United States (of much longer duration than 
Captain Hall's), and however different my opinions 
of the future prospects of that rising and interesting 
country connected with its present form of govern- 
ment, I cannot forbear to give my humble testi- 
mony in favour of the general accuracy of all the 
statements of that gentleman that bear upon matters 
of fact and local description ; — do not let me be 
misunderstood, as supposing that it can be necessary 
to vindicate Captain Hall in this country, or per- 
haps even in America, from a charge of intentional 
misrepresentation. 



122 

The reviews and journals of that country do not 
generally accuse him of this : on the contrary, many 
of the extracts which are given by American wri- 
ters sufficiently show that he in a thousand instan- 
ces did justice to what he saw there ; but it has 
been asserted that a strong political bias — a power- 
ful feeling of prejudice — continually interfered with 
the exercise of his judgment when drawing infer- 
ences from what he saw, and making general and 
not laudatory reflections upon that which he had 
just before been describing with warm approba- 
tion.* 

The sum calculated by Captain Hall, like that of 
General Bernard, leaves out the expenses of the 
church and the public turnpike roads ; the error in 
its amount will be easily accounted for in examin- 
ing the calculations of Mr Cooper and those of the 
Quarterly. 

Mr Fenimore Cooper had been requested by 
General Lafayette to rectify errors in the state- 
ments of the Revue Britannique ; the general thus 
explains his object in requesting Mr Cooper to un- 
dertake a task for which he is so eminently quali- 
fied. "Independently of our common American 
interest on this subject, I feel a wish to undeceive 

* Vide Review of Captain B. Hall's Travels in North America, 
2d ed. London, published by Kennett, &c. 



123 

such of my French colleagues as may conscien- 
tiously believe that they ought to oppose reductions 
in the expenditure, from the erroneous impression 
that the taxes of this country (France) are less op- 
pressive than the combined expenses of the federal 
and state governments of the union." 

Mr Cooper, after some general observations, re- 
markable for their fairness and the judgment with 
w^hich he notices some of the sources of error in 
the theories and reasonings that are frequently ap- 
plied to the affairs of America, and regretting that he 
has not at hand the materials and authorities that 
he could wish, proceeds to give an outline of the 
origin and state of the national debt of the United 
States, part of which will be found in the Appen- 
dix.* 

Before examining farther Mr Cooper's statement, 
it is necessary to give the extract from the Revue 
Britannique, which gave occasion for it. — " The 
federal budget of the United States, which might 
also be called their political budget, did not exceed, 
in 1829, 24,767,119 dollars (or 131,265,729 
francs), but in time of warf it amounts to more 
than twice that sum." 

* Vide Appendix at the end of the volume, 
t In the original it is " mais en terns de paix, il s'eleve a plus 
du double," evidently a misprint. 



124 

" Doubtless the moderation of this budget will 
strike one forcibly when compared with the enor- 
mous amount of ours. We are inclined to envy 
the fortunate position of a nation freed from the 
diversity of our fiscal imposts, and which in fact 
has, it may be said, but a single source of revenue, 
that of the customs. It will be calculated that 
even were our army reduced to a low peace estab- 
lishment, our budget would still amount to near a 
thousand millions. The result would be, that in 
France the mean amount of the public charge paid 
by each individual is 31 francs, whilst in the 
United States it is but 13 francs: — but this is a 
mere deception. It must be borne in mind that 
the twenty-four states composing the American 
union, are not provinces or departments, but in- 
dependent states, having each their separate budget, 
as they also have a separate constitution. To 
ascertain, therefore, the public expenditure of the 
United States, it becomes necessary to add the 
particular budgets of every state to the federal 
budget, which only embraces the collective expen- 
ses of the union. Que must also place to account 
the different county expenses which are not quoted 
either in the general or state budgets : add to this 
the expenses of making and repairing roads, as on 
none of our roads are any tolls levied, but this item 
is included in the national budget. In the United 



125 

States, on the other hand, a great number of the 
roads are turnpike roads, on which a toll is paid by 
all who use them. One must, therefore, if the 
amount of these tolls were ascertained, add it to the 
other public expenses. Before we proceed to ex- 
amine the state budget, let us analyse some items 
of the federal budget, and we shall find, that the 
salaries which are paid out of it, far from being 
subjected to a rigorous economy, are almost in every 
case higher than those paid for the corresponding 
services in France." 

" The political communities, which have lately 
been reconstructed in Europe upon a new basis, 
have all deemed it indispensable for the maintenance 
of tranquillity, to place a sovereign in the highest 
place in their social hierarchy. They have necessa- 
rily been obliged to burden themselves with a consi- 
derable expense, to invest the family in which the 
superior power is made hereditary with the requi- 
site splendour. The genius of America, having in 
some sort sufficient space in which to employ its 
glowing spirit of enterprise, does not appear to have 
as yet required this condition to avoid turbulence 
and disquiet. There are forest regions to clear, 
savage tribes to subdue, immense, innumerable 
plains to be cultivated : no expense, therefore, equi- 
valent to what we denominate civil list, is to be 



126 

found in the federal budget, although there is one 
item nominally the same, but which represents ex- 
penses of a different nature. As has been already 
said, a constitutional king, none of whose acts are 
voted without the countersign of a responsible min- 
ister, reigns, but does not govern. The President 
of the United States, who does govern, has no 
counterpart in France, but the President of the 
council, placed like him at the head of affairs : his 
emoluments are 25,000 dollars (or 132,500* fr.). 
The president of the council in France is fixed at 
120,000 francs in the national budget. The Pre- 
sident of the United States has, besides, a magnifi- 
cent hotel in Washington, and a country villaf in 
the neighbourhood of that town. Notwithstanding 
this, it appears that his appointments are insufficient 
to cover the expenses to wdiich, by usage, he is sub- 
jected. One of these expensive customs is, the 
necessity of giving, during the session of congress, 
two grand dinners, which are far from being re- 
markable for that simplicity attributed by us to 
republican manners : these dinner-parties, and the 
other expenses incident to the representation kept 

* 152,500, or between 5 and 6000Z. 

t This is not tlie case : the mistake probably arose from the 
accidental circumstance of the family of the late President (Mr 
Adams) occupying at one time a country-house very near W'^ash- 
ington. 



127 

up by the President, deranged the fortunes of many 
of those who have filled the post of supreme ma- 
gistrate. Mr Jefferson and Mr Munroe died, it 
may be said, almost insolvent." 

I believe that Captain Hall was the first writer 
on the United States who called public attention 
in Europe to the duplicate form of government of 
the American union, and pointed out the necessity 
of taking into any calculation of the whole expen- 
diture of that country, the general a.nd state budgets 
to which each inhabitant of the United States con- 
tributes. The errors in his calculations are in the 
amount which he allows for their joint sums; 
and although he comes much nearer the truth than 
either the Quarterly or the Revue Britannique, he 
evidently does not take into consideration many 
circumstances the ignorance of which has also mis- 
led the authors of the articles in the above-men- 
tioned journals. 

The amount of annual charge paid by each indi- 
vidual in the United States is made by Mr Cooper 
(valuing the dollar at 5 francs 33 centimes) to 
amount to 14 francs 5 centimes. This sum does 
not materially differ from that given by Captain 
Hall (viz. 12s. 4jrf.) ; but there is this important 
difference in their calculations ; Mr Cooper includes 
in his estimate, not only the federal and the state bud- 



128 

gets, but the expense o{ public schools, of the clergy, 
the poor, and every incidental expense; whereas 
Captain Hall only reckons the combined expenditure 
of the general and state governments. For the 
tivo budgets alone, Mr Cooper calculates the mean 
charge per head at 10 francs 40 centimes, or about 
one franc less than General Bernard's estimate* 
(11 francs 47 centimes), which also omitted the 
clergy. Before I proceed to examine in detail how 
these different results have been produced, the es- 
timates of the Quarterly should be taken into con- 
sideration ; as, although not given in the same form 
as those which have been already mentioned, they 
will in fact be answered in the course of the exam- 
ination of the others. 

* It must also be recollected that General Bernard calculates 
the dollar at 5 francs 25 centimes, while Mr Cooper reckons it 
at 5 francs 33 centimes. 



129 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Quarterly's remarks on American statistics. — General and state 
expenditure. — General Bernard's and Mr Cooper's estimates. 

After some preliminary remarks, the writer of 
the article, " Progress of Misgovernment," observes, 
that " we are not to infer that there is no unnecess- 
ary expenditure under the American system," and 
that in fact those estahlishments which they have 
in common with us are not "on a much more eco- 
nomical scale than our own." He differs from 
the Revue Britannique, inasmuch as he says, " It is 
true that the salary and establishment of the Presi- 
dent are framed on a scale of severe republican sim- 
plicity. "" "But," he adds, "on the other hand, be 
it remembered, there are certain other civil dis- 
bursements, in the shape of salaries, from which 
our monarchical establishment is exempt. Be it 
remembered that, besides the two houses of congress, 
there are twenty-four local houses of representatives 
and twenty-four senates* continually in existence, 

* This is not precisely the case : in Vermont, for instance, 
there is no senate, and the upper house in New Jersey is styled 
the " legislative council ;" but this is immaterial to the general 
argument. 

R 



130 

and during a considerable portion of the year in 
actual session, in the several states, &c. &c., and 
that every one of these delegates is paid,— those 
serving in the general congress receiving as much 
as eight dollars, or about 1/. I65. per day, during 
the session, besides a like sum for every twenty 
miles of distance from his residence to. the seat of 
congress." In all this information the reviewer 
is generally right, as well as in all the other facts 
taken from the tables appended to Captain Hall's 
Travels.* 

But his mode is quite different of bringing for- 
ward his proofs of the assertion in the former part 
of his remarks, viz. that the expenses of the gov- 

* The manner in which his subsequent calculations are made, 
reminds one of that part of Captain Hall's Travels, where a cha- 
racteristic conversation is given between a shrewd old Irish set- 
tler and a land agent :— on asking the old emigrant for informa- 
tion about the settlement, he began to suspect some lurking mo- 
tive in these, as he thought, leading questions — " What shall I 
say to the gentleman, sir?" — " Why, Cornelius, said the agent, 
" tell the truth." " O yes, of course, sir, we must always tell the 
truth, but— z/" / only knew what the gentleman wanted^ 1 would 
know which way to answer — in short, should I overstatemaiters, sir, 
or should I understate them? shall I make things appear better or 
worse than they are .^" 

It may possibly be recollected by more than one member of 
our own legislature, tliat there were modes some years ago of 
making out parliamentary calculations, very much upon the prin- 
ciple of the Irish emigrant; — at least, such things have been 
asserted, — and the calculations of the Quarterly remind one 
strongly of this sort of over and under statement. 



131 

ernment under the American system nearly equal 
those of Great Britain. He does not calculate the 
mean amount of public charge borne by each in- 
dividual, the mode adopted by Captain Hall, the 
Revue Britannique, Mr Cooper, and General Ber- 
nard, but taking certain parts of the American ex- 
penditure, compares their gross amount with the 
corresponding items in the English budget. He 
thus obtains 624,538/. for the entire civil expendi- 
ture of the American republic (which we shall not 
at present analyse, but allow for the sake of argu- 
ment to be correct). He then turns to statements 
laid before parliament, and finds that our civil list, 
salaries and allowances paid out of the consolidated 
fund, our courts of justice, amount to 1,269,765/. 
But as he says, " these are expenses which ought 
necessarily to bear a direct proportion to population, 
if not to wealth;" and the population of Great 
Britain and Ireland being about 24,110,125, he, 
by assuming that the expenditure of the union shall 
increase pro rato with its population, it follows, 
that when it shall have attained tw^enty-four millions, 
" the expenditure will be fifty-seven thousand 
pounds more than ours!" 

To obtain this singular result, it is true, as the 
Quarterly observes, he has indeed left out " the par- 
liamentary pensions and annuities, granted for the 



132 

most part in consideration of eminent public ser- 
vices" — because, forsooth, there is no corresponding 
item in this department of the American accounts : 
this omission, which many people might be inclined 
to think not wholly unimportant in a comparative 
estimate of the expenditure of the two govern- 
ments, is subsequently rectified by taking the 
amount of the revolutionary pensions in the United 
States, and by setting them off against the parlia- 
mentary pensions, he still gets a balance in favour 
of America of no more than 166,365/. 

In the first place it must be remarked, that the 
Quarterly, in common with Captain B. Hall, and 
the writer in the Revue Britannique, is wrong with 
respect to the amount of the slate expenditure, and 
in consequence all their calculations are wide of 
the truth ; allowing that the mean, taken from the 
tables of Captain Hall, is correct as applied gener- 
ally (and it is far from being so, by reason of the 
preponderance of the richer and more populous 
states in the calculation), it seems to have been 
quite forgotten, that a very small part of this nom- 
inal amount is realty a charge upon the tax prayers. 
In almost every state a considerable share of the 
expenditure is covered by the interest of different 
funds ; in many, a large portion of the state budget 
is appropriated to internal improvements, which be- 



133 

come in their turn sources of public revenue.* 
Such are the great canals of New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio, &c. By making the requisite deduc- 
tions, according to the best information that I have 
been able to obtain, from the sums paid throughout 
the union to the support of the state expenses, I 
think that something more than one shilling ster- 
ling (instead of three shillings, according to Captain 
Hall and the Quarterly) is about the amount of the 
mean charge for state expenditure. But this 
amount cannot, without possessing more local in- 
formation than most foreigners can obtain, and de- 
voting much time to the subject, be given with 
any accuracy. It will be probably better therefore 
to take the calculations of General Bernard and 
Mr Cooper as our guide on this head. General 
Bernard takes an average of the expenditure of two 
of the richest and most populous states of the union, 
viz. New York and Virginia, and thus obtains one 
franc 32 centimes as the maximum per individual 
of annual charge. By not being aware of the real 

* Thus in Pennsylvania, for instance, nearly two millions and 
a half are given as the state expenditure; but.it should be ob- 
served, that at the time that Captain Hall alludes to, some mil- 
lions had been employed, in the course of tv/o or three years, by 
that state, for making a canal, afterwards to become a profitable 
source of revenue to the state itself; and consequently the two 
millions and upwards were far from being the true amount of the 
usual state expenditure, and so of other states. 



134 

nature of the state budget, the Revue Britannique, 
as well as Captain Hall, and the Quarterly, have 
given totally false estimates of the amount of the 
state expenses. Thus the Revue Britannique, 
whose calculations are principally made from the 
budget of New York, reckons the state expenditure 
at 10,179,498 francs, whereas, there is out of this 
sum no more than 1,837,500 francs paid by the 
inhabitants of that *state. The remainder is paid 
by the interests of the funds belonging to the state, 
and by the receipts of the Erie and Champlain 
canals, which latter alone amount to near 5,000,000 
francs. 

Mr Cooper, himself a citizen of New York, and 
of course more likely to be intimately acquainted 
with the details of the expenditure of this state than 
a foreigner, makes the mean annual charge of each 
inhabitant of New York to be 95 centimes, or 
within one sous of a franc ; and he thinks that this 
is a fair criterion for the amount of the rest of the 
union. He takes the average real expenditure for 
five years, and estimates it at 350,000 dollars. 
This amount seems very small ; but it must be re- 
collected that although each state is considered as 
a separate and independent government, yet none 
but the federal government has to defray the ex- 
penses of any regular armed force ; that they have 



135 

no naval department, and no foreign relations, to 
keep up. It must also be borne in mind, that the 
large and increasing revenue of the canals, salt 
works, &c. in proportion as the mortgages upon the 
revenues v^ill be paid oflf, will become available in 
a greater proportion by the state, so that upon a 
moderate valuation, when quite unincumbered, the 
canals, salt works, &c. will produce a revenue, in 
Mr Cooper's opinion, four times greater than the 
sum required for the expenses of the state. It 
should also be recollected, that in comparing the 
amount of expenditure in the two countries, we 
should take into account the poor-rates, county- 
rates, &c. in England, which will be found, at a 
very moderate computation, much to exceed the 
aggregate of the state expenses of America. 



136 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Future financial prospects of the United States. — Military ex- 
penses. — Naval expenses. — -Cost of administration of justice. 
— Salaries of the clergy. 

The calculation in the Quarterly that when the 
population of the United States shall equal our 
own, the expenditure will be proportionally in- 
creased, is not likely to prove correct either in the- 
ory or practice. The immense extent of territory 
in the United States, the scattered position of many 
of its inhabitants, and the nature of its border and 
southern population, require a vast framework of 
organization both for military and judicial purposes, 
and an apparently disproportionate expense ; thus 
the skeletons of the regiments composing their small 
army are made upon a scale that would admit of 
a considerable augmentation with a trifling increase 
of expense, as the staff and officers, as well as the 
number of clerks employed in the war office, and 
the other parts of the military organization are kept 
up on a footing that would allow of a great increase 
of effective force with little addition to the budget, 
beyond the pay of the additional privates. On this 



137 

head the opinion of General Bernard, who for sev- 
eral years filled a high military post in the service 
of the United States, is of much weight; he says, 
"that the American army might be increased to 
12,000 men (or about double its present number) 
without any sensible augmentation in the expenses 
of the war department at Washington {I'adminis' 
tration centrale). That the number of privates is 
reduced as low as possible, while the officers are 
kept up on a scale adapted for thrice the effective 
numerical force ; by which means the general ex- 
penses are diminished in time of peace, and they 
are prepared with a sufficient number of officers on 
the breaking out of war." 

It may be remarked, that the expenses of the 
military force of the United States, when compared 
with those of many of the European armies, are 
disproportionately great, amounting for about 6,000 
men to nearly 21 millions of francs, or about 
4,200,000 dollars. It should be recollected that 
the American soldier is enrolled by voluntary en- 
listment, and the wages of labour in the United 
States being very high, he will of course expect a 
proportionate remuneration for his services. Be- 
sides, a sum of 525,000 francs, annually voted for 
the manufacture of musquets and small arms, is in- 



138 

eluded in the above estimate, as also the expenses 
of a formidahle line of fortifications now in progress, 
with its artillery and that of the army.* In like 
manner the expenses of the navy department at 
Washington would not materially increase if it 
became necessary to put twice the present number 
of ships of war in commission. 

The same necessity exists for a large propor- 
tionate expense to the federal government in the 
administration of justice, the framework of which 
is at present calculated rather upon the extent of 
territory than upon the number of inhabitants, as 
the organization is uniform and general. On this 
subject Mr Cooper thus expresses himself, " The 
maintenance of order, and the administration of 
justice, would not cost much more, were the popu- 
lation 100 millions, than they do at present for 
less than 14 millions. No person is allowed to 
hold more than one place or office, and none of 
those now employed could be dispensed with with- 
out detriment to the public service. It is necessary 
to support thirty district courts for a population of 
less than 14 millions, whereas, if the union were 
of no greater extent than France, proportionally 

* These fortifications have been carried on, and, in manj in- 
stances completed, under the able superintendence of General 
Bernard. 



139 

to its number of inhabitants, four courts would suf- 
fice." 

Allowing for a very natural bias in favour of 
the institutions of his country, it may be probable 
that Mr Cooper has overrated the economy of the 
administration of justice; still his observations 
deserve much consideration. 

There is also a charge peculiar to the United 
States,* which is the sum paid to the Indian tribes, 
and this alone amounts to about one-twentieth of 
the whole American budget, and is not likely to 
increase in the same ratio as the population of the 
country. 

But the errors and misconceptions on all that 
relates to the statistics of the United States in this 
article of the Quarterly, are nowhere more con- 
spicuous than in that part where the annual ex- 
pense of the clergy is estimated. The reviewer 
founds his calculations upon the statement of Dr 
Cooper,! from which he estimates the aggregate 
amount paid throughout the union to the clergy 
of all sects at ^3,081,650 ;J and as on the same 

* The government of our North American colonies have a sim- 
ilar item in their expenditure. 

t Dr Co6per is, or was, professor at one of the colleges in the 
United States,* and is, I believe, no relation of Mr F. Cooper. 

I The Revue Britannique, not wishing to understate, gives as 

* Columbia, South Carolina. 



140 

authority he states the number of clergymen to be 
about 13,000, he obtains 237/. 10s. as the average 
annual stipend of each clergyman (1000 dollars, 
according to Dr Cooper), exclusive of occasional 
emoluments (" irregular exactions and fees," &c.). 
This he contrasts with the sum of the tithes in the 
hands of the clergy " in England, which," he says, 
" from very satisfactory evidence, does not much 
exceed ^2,215,000;" and that, " ?/ the tithes 
ivere equally divided among all the livings,'' each 
clergyman would have but ^200 ; that by adding 
the cathedral property, and the income of the 
bishops, you cannot establish an aggregate of more 
than J2,673,500. 

If the accuracy of this statement could be ad- 
mitted, it would at once do away with an objection 
that has been sometimes made to the church sys- 
tem in the United States, viz. — that unless the pro- 
vision for the church were compulsory, and its sup- 
port established by law, the clergy would starve. 
But, although I can fully bear witness, as far as 
my observation goes, to the fact that the clergy of 
the Episcopalian and some other forms of worship 
in America are not only respectably maintained, 
but that they, in fact (whatever may be their nom- 

the revenue of the clergy in America 30,000,000 francs, or about 
£1,200,000. 



141 

inal income, or the comparative cheapness of their 
place of residence), live in comfort and competence, 
and that I never either saw or heard of clergymen 
being in want or distressed, so as not to be able to 
support and provide for their families with more 
than the mere necessaries of life ; yet the rate cal- 
culated by the reviewer is much too high. It is 
extremely difficult to form an accurate estimate of 
either the number of the clergy in the United 
States or the amount of their emoluments. If 
one were required in this country to make out an 
exact schedule of the income enjoyed by the clergy 
of the established church, notwithstanding the 
assistance afforded by the Liber Regalis and the 
clerical guide, it would not be easy to get the 
precise amount of the real income of the clergy, 
including cathedral property, Easter offerings, 
glebes, oblations, duesj pews in the church, fees, 
&c. &c. A proof of the difficulty of obtaining a 
true estimate may be found in the various sums at 
which the revenues of the Anglican church have 
been valued. The Quarterly says ^2,673,500 in 
one place, and ^3,872,138 in another.* But 
other valuations certainly have been made, and 
many published in the various London journals, 
which vary from four to even nine millions and 

* Vide Vol. XXIX. of Quarterly Review, p. 555. 



142 

more. As it is no part of the object of this work 
to examine into the real amount of the temporali- 
ties of the church of England, but to show what 
is the probable sum of the income of the clergy 
in the United States, I shall not take any other 
valuation than that of the Quarterly Reviewer, cer- 
tainly not likely, from the tenor of his argument, 
to be exaggerated. 



143 



CHAPTER XV. 

Ecclesiastical revenues of the United States. — Valuations of the 
Quarterly of church of England revenues, and those of the 
clergy of America. — Probable real amount of church emolu- 
ments in the United States. 

But if it be not easy to form a correct estimation 
of the revenue of the church of England, what must 
be the difficulty of getting at the true value of all 
the sums appropriated throughout Great Britain 
and Ireland to the support of the clergy of all de- 
nommations ? In Scotland it would be compara- 
tively easy, and in Ireland, as far as the legally 
established church is concerned ; but, to put the 
question on fair grounds, we must include not only 
the Catholic clergy of Ireland, but the Presbyte- 
rians, and all the dissenters of the united kingdom. 
The reviewer admits this, with regard to the dis- 
senters, in speaking of England only, and allows 
that it might be more than sufficient to make up 
the difference between his estimate of the relative 
amounts of the incomes of each clergyman in the 
two countries, i. e. between 2,673,500/.* in Eng- 

* This is the estimate in the 92d vol. of the Quarterly ; that in 
the 29th being above a million more. 



144 

land antl 3,081,650/. in the United States. It must 
be remembered, also, that in this comparative esti- 
mate the church of Ireland, that is to say, the es- 
tablished church, is not included, nor is Scotland 
taken into account ; whereas, in the calculation of 
13,000 clergymen in the United States, all denomi- 
nations are included in all j)arts of that extensive 
country. 

Thus allowing the correctness of the above esti- 
mate, the annual income of the church, or rather 
of the clergy, in the United States would at once 
appear to be infinitely below that of the clergy of 
the united kingdom ; and this is to be expected as 
a matter of course, from the totally different cir- 
cumstances of the church in the two countries. In 
America the clergy have no connexion with the 
government, or with any political party, directly 
or indirectly ; they are not magistrates, nor do they 
take part in any of the lighter recreations of society 
that in this country are looked upon as at least 
harmless amusements. Clergymen are rarely, if 
ever, seen either at a ball or party ; nor do they 
mix much in general and large companies, unless 
when brought together for the promotion of some 
charitable measure, or some association connected 
with their religious duties. It is not intended to 
institute a comparison between the habits and prin- 



145 

ciples of the American clergy and those of the 
church of England, but to mention facts that ac- 
count for their total difference of position in social 
and political life. Indeed, the difference of feeling 
in the two countries is so great, that if a clergyman 
were, in most parts of the United States, to be seen 
at a theatre, at a dance, or to join a card party, he 
would certainly fall in the esteem and opinion of 
his flock ; but if he were to become habitually a 
frequenter of balls, plays, &c. or be tempted to be- 
come a sportsman or fox-hunter, he certainly would 
not long continue to fill the station of pastor to any 
congregation. I do not pretend to give any opinion 
as to the comparative merits of the two systems, 
nor is either censure or approbation implied of the 
severity of public opinion in America on this sub- 
ject. These facts, however, joined to the absence 
of all political or worldly dignities in the ecclesi- 
astical body in the United States, render large 
incomes quite unnecessary to the clergy of that 
country ; and the assertion, therefore, of the mean 
amount of their emoluments being greater than, 
or nearly equal to, that of the clergymen of Eng- 
land, is the more surprising. 

On examination, however, I think that there will 
be found little reason to suppose this to be the case. 
The Quarterly takes Dr Cooper's estimate asjts 



146 

guide, and thus finds that the aggregate of the sala- 
ries of the clergy in the United States is 3,081,650/. 
inasmuch as there are 13,000 clergymen at 1000 
dollars, or 237/. lOs. each. But this valuation is 
so extremely exaggerated in its amount, that one is 
at a loss to conceive how it can have been made 
from any authentic data. The Revue Britannique, 
judging by Williams's Register, published at New 
York, and one of the best authorities for that city 
of the salaries of the clergy, makes the whole 
amount of clerical income in the United States 
about 1,200,000/., which, although less than half 
the sum given by the Quarterly, is still probably 
much more than the real amount, as in many parts 
of the union the expenses of the clergy by no means 
equal those in the state of New York. 

But to enable those who are unacquainted with 
the ecclesiastical affairs of America to form an opin- 
ion on this question, it will be necessary to mention 
a few circumstances peculiar to the clergy of the 
United States. 

With respect to the ministers of religion, no le- 
gislative provision is made in any of the states, or 
by the general government, for their support. It 
is left entirely to the voluntary acts of individuals, 
and the good-will of the congregations of the differ- 
ent sects and denominations ; excepting, however, 



147 

that in the state of Massachusetts, the constitution 
compels all citizens to belong to some religious so- 
ciety, or to pay for the support of some religious 
teacher, leaving them to contribute to whatever 
society or denomination they may choose. 

From a list of the ministers of different denomi- 
nations to be found in the Appendix, it appears 
that the number of clergymen is 10,120 ; by an- 
other enumeration they are made to amount to no 
more than 8520. But let us avoid the possibility 
of underrating the number of ministers of religion 
paid by the people of the United States, including 
the licentiates as well as the ministers. It must 
also be recollected that among the methodists there 
are many whose ministers are not allowed to reside 
more than two years in any one place, and part of 
whose church discipline it is to be continually 
travelling and preaching in all parts of the union, 
indeed it may be said in all parts of the world, for 
from some of these I believe are generally taken 
the missionaries who proceed to the islands of the 
Pacific, to New Zealand, &c. to preach the Gospel. 
The extreme difficulty, therefore, of coming to any 
very accurate estimate of their number is apparent. 
These ministers receive in money but about sixty 
dollars, or about 12/. or 13/. annually, if unmarried, 
or about twice that sum when married, and there- 



148 

fore practice very literally the scriptural injunction 
— " Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth ;" 
but it is true that their support is not wholly pro- 
vided for by this stipend, as during their progress 
through the country they are generally received 
into the families of some of those belonging to their 
congregations, among whom are always found per- 
sons able and willing to exercise their hospitality 
towards the clergy of their church. There is 
a hierarchy of this denomination, and there are 
others w^ho are not Episcopalians. 

In 1 830 there were in New York 1382 clergymen, 
according to Williams's Kegister ; of these, there 
was, perhaps, not one whose annual income would 
exceed 1000/., few with more than 500/. ; and I 
should think, from all the authorities that I have 
been able to consult, that 100/. per annum would 
be rather more than the average salary of each cler- 
gyman ; and in that state the clergy are probably 
paid higher than in any other. It is difficult to as- 
certain with certainty the existence of a greater 
number of clergymen than from 8500 to 10,100, 
throughout the union; — but allow it to be 10,200, 
or even 11,000 (and this amount will certainly be 
more than can be proved), and we obtain 1,100,000/. 
as the total amount of church income in America ; 
and this, I think, is much more than the true sum. 



149 

Possibly Dr Cooper reckons the preachers of those 
sects, among whom there is no regular clergy, but 
where one of the congregation occasionally officiates, 
although possibly a mechanic or farmer, or person 
engaged in any other employment or trade; of 
whom there are, I believe, many in Great Britain ; 
— but it should be recollected that these men re- 
ceive no salary as clergymen, and therefore cannot 
be included in the estimate. 

But Mr F. Cooper makes a lower calculation 
than that given above. His remarks on this sub- 
ject deserve attention. In speaking of the clergy 
of New York, he says, " Their emoluments are de- 
rived from two sources, the revenues belonging to 
certain churches, and voluntary contributions. The 
greater portion of the higher stipends (I allude to 
those amounting to from eight to twenty thousand 
francs, and their number is very limited), are the 
proceeds of estates or property enjoyed by the 
clergymen, or arise from the rent of pews and 
sittings in the places of worship ; the smaller sala- 
ries are paid by means of subscriptions raised for 
that object. According to Williams, there were in 
1830 in New York 1382 ecclesiastics, having each 
their church. We should much exceed the real 
amount, if we allow that each of these receives on 
the average 400 dollars, or about eighty to eighty- 



150 

five pounds. Of the whole number 400 are metho- 
dists, who do not receive, as I know from good au- 
thority, more than 300 dollars; and 600 dollars 
are considered a very good salary in a country of 
some importance. I recollect that the principal 
minister of Cooperstown, which is the capital of a 
county, received but the latter sum, which was de- 
frayed solely by the rent of seats. Therefore, in 
allowing 400 dollars as the salary of an ecclesiastic 
in New York, we are above the real average. He 
goes on to say — " Funerals cost nothing ; prayers 
for the living or the dead are gratuitous ; the same 
is the case for baptisms and marriages. Any priest 
who should refuse to perform any of these duties 
without payment, would run a great risk of losing 
his living. It is the custom to make an offering 
to the priest who has performed the marriage cere- 
mony, but it is quite voluntary. And a small 
number of wealthy people make presents also on 
the occurrence of a christening or baptism ; but the 
greater number of Americans regard donations on 
such occasions with a religious horror. They con- 
sider it as an attempt to corrupt Heaven. In town, 
gloves and scarfs are given to the priests, as well as 
to the physicians and the bearers, by a few families, 
at funeral ceremonies; but we are so far from 
thinking it necessary to pay an ecclesiastic for a 



151 

funeral, that for my own part, although accustomed 
to the habits of other countries, I retain for this 
practice a feeling of profound aversion. In a word, 
a priest in America is considered as a minister of 
God. He is paid that he may exist; but no one 
is of opinion that those who do not pay him have 
less right to his ministry than those who do.^^^ 

It will be seen from the foregoing extract from 
Mr Cooper's Letter, that he estimates the eccle- 
siastical expenses at about one fifth lower than I 
have reckoned them (1,100,000/.) ; but even allow- 
ing the higher valuation, there is a difference of 
nearly two millions sterling in the amount, as given 
by the Quarterly. The reviewer's valuation of the 
amount of the ecclesiastical revenue in England 
has nothing to do with the present object, which 
is not to institute a comparison between the English 
and American church revenue. But it must be 
evident that, judging by the returns for the county 
of Lancaster, which have been published, it seems 
inconceivably below the real amount. The amount 
of church property in the hands of churchmen in 
that county alone greatly exceeding the whole sum 

I regret that I cannnot give Mr Cooper's own words, as it is 
only from the French published translation of that gentleman's 
letter that the above citation is made, and it is very probable that 
justice is not done to the style of that author in my re-translation. 



152 

allowed by him for the cathedral property of all 
England. 

The gross amount of the property for the county 
of Lancaster is upwards of three millions per an- 
num ; and it is perhaps not one of the least objec- 
tions to the church system in England, that a great 
part of the large sums nominally paid for its sup- 
port, are, in fact, nothing more than a species of 
lay property, often passing from hand to hand, and 
unconnected with any benefit to the ministry of 
religion, excepting that the onus (and it may be 
added odium, with at least the unreflecting and 
uninformed* part of the community) of levying 
and realizing the sums, falls to the share of the 
church. 

From what has been shown, then, it will be clear 
that we rather overrate the account of church reve- 
nues in ihe United States by estimating them at 
^1,100,000; while, if we take the whole income 

* There can be no greater proof of the difficulty of obtaining a 
true estimate of tlie income of the clergy of the church of Eng- 
land than the valuations to be found in the Quarterly itself. Let 
us take but two instances. In the articl-e " Progress of Mis- 
government." No. 92, we find the church revenues calculated at 
about ^£200 per annum for each clergyman, and an aggregate, with 
cathedral property, of ^2,673,500. But, referring to No. 58 
(Vol. XXIX. p. 556, et seq.), we find the total revenue of the 
established church £3,872,138 ! and that of the parochial clergy 
£3,447,138, or, for each clergyman, £303 annually. While iu 
the church of Scotland each iving is valued at £275, and the 
aggregate £263,340. 



153 

of the established church of Great Britain and Ire- 
land, the support of the clergy in Scotland, and that 
of the Koman catholics, and of all the various sects 
of dissenters throughout the United Kingdom, 
^12,000,000 will be a very lovs^ valuation. 

This is the only fair mode of comparing the 
ecclesiastical expenditure of the tvsro countries.* 

* MucU has been said lately about a " free trade in religion." 
If this phrase have any meaning as applied to the United States, 
I am at a loss to discover it. There are few countries where 
there is less of trade or pecuniary considerations in connexion 
with the ministers of religion than America. Livings can neither 
be bought nor sold, nor money received on account of the church, 
but by individuals performing certain duties, for which, in the 
opinion of those who benefit by their ministry, they are supposed 
most eligible. It would be a great mistake to suppose that even 
the mere external demonstrations of deep respect for religious 
ordinances are not observable in most parts of the United States. 
In a great many states there is annually a fast day proclaimed 
by the governor of the state, and its observance neither meets 
with the animadversion, nor the opposition that similar proclama- 
tions have been met with in this country. The general respect 
for the ordinances of the Sabbath is also at least as great (except, 
I am informed, in the southern extremity of the union) as in 
any country with which I am acquainted. 



154 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Expenses of administration of justice. — Of state judiciaries.— 
Some account of public lands, and future intentions with re- 
gard to them. 

With respect to the expenses of the administra- 
tion of justice, called in the United States " the 
judiciary," the Quarterly speaks only in general 
terms, but asserts that to the country at large it is 
probably more costly than " to any other in the 
world !" acknowledging, however, that he knows 
of no data sufficiently accurate from which to state 
the proportions which the expenses of this depart- 
ment bear to each other in the two countries re- 
spectively ; at least not with the " same precision" 
as in the cases of the civil and ecclesiastical depart- 
ment. 

In the Appendix will be found a table which 
may assist in forming an estimate of the amount of 
the expenses of the state " judiciaries," in which 
are included the salaries of chief justice, judges, 
attorneys and solicitors- general, reporters, munici- 
pal-courts, police-courts, &c. as complete as it has 
been in my power to make it at present, by which 



155 

it appears that the average annual expense to the 
country for the state judiciary is about 395,866 
dollars. If we allow 90,000/. for this item, it will 
certainly not be underrating it. 

Although the magistrates are paid by fees, yet 
they are so low, that we may very safely estimate 
the usual fees of clerks of the peace and petty law- 
officers in this country, as being more than equiva- 
lent to them. 

The principal sources of revenue in the United 
States, are the imports, the public lands, and bank 
dividends. But the first named alone will be suf- 
ficient to meet all the expenditure, even after the 
sale of bank-stock proposed by the present secre- 
tary of the treasury, and without the sums hitherto 
derived from the sale of public lands. 

Among the less prominent sources of revenue of 
the United States, there are some that deserve 
notice from their daily increasing importance, if 
not from their present value. The gold mines, 
the sugar plantations, the cultivation of vineyards, 
and the production of silk manufactures, &c. are 
worthy of attention in forming an estimate of the 
financial prospects of the United States. 

The public lands were very early looked to as a 
source of revenue to the country. As early as 
1776, Silas Deane, then a political and commercial 



156 

agent of the United States in France, communicated 
to congress a plan for the sale and settlement of the 
territory north-west of the Ohio ; and, as has been 
already observed, the calculations of the future 
value of this region formed the first great subject 
of collision betw^een the several states of the con- 
federacy. It was, however, a long time before an 
effective system was devised, by which the lands 
could be thrown open to settlement, or made 
available for the purpose of revenue. 

Bounty-lands having been promised by the con- 
tinental congress to the officers and soldiers of the 
continental army, it became necessary to redeem 
that pledge as early as possible. The controversies 
between the several states, and between them and 
the United States, retarded for some time the ful- 
filment of this pledge. On the 20th May 1785, 
an ordinance was passed by the congress of the con- 
federation, for ascertaining the mode of disposing 
of lands in the western territory, and this was the 
first act of general legislation on the subject. This 
act may be found in the new edition of the Land 
Laws, page 349. Under it very liftiited sales were 
made, not amounting, in the whole, to more than 
121,540 acres. 

Subsequently different sales were effected in pro- 
portion as lands were ceded to the United States 



157 

by any of the individual states. Pennsylvania be- 
came a purchaser, and the Ohio Land Company 
also became large buyers to the amount of tw^o 
millions of acres, afterwards reduced by agreement 
to one million ; they paid two-thirds of a dollar per 
acre. This company originated in Massachusetts, 
and commenced the settlement of Ohio (then an 
uninhabited wilderness) in 1788; it now supports 
a population of about 1,000,000. Another sale 
was effected by an individual, named J. Symmes, 
of between 2 and 300,000 acres. He succeeded 
perfectly in settling the territory north-west of the 
Ohio. 

But it w^as not till 1 802 that the many and trou- 
blesome controversies that took place between the 
general government and the different states on the 
subject of the public lands were amicably adjusted. 
North Carolina ceded to the United States the 
tract of country now forming the state of Tennessee, 
in 1789; and Georgia, after much embarrassing dis- 
cussion, was the last to enter into the arrangement 
with the United States, by ceding that territory, 
now forming the states of Alabama and Mississippi ; 
the United States contracting to extinguish the In- 
dian title to lands within the limits of Georgia? 
" as soon as it could be done peaceably, and on rea- 
sonable terms." 



158 

Some account of the mode in which the puhlic 
lands are disposed of in the United States may not 
be uninteresting at a moment when emigration is 
hourly increasing to our American colonies and the 
United States. 

On the 10th of May 1800, an act of congress 
was passed, laying the foundation of the land system 
as it now exists. It has received several modifica- 
tions at subsequent periods, two of w^hich are of 
great importance, and will presently be stated. 

Under this law, the substantial features of the 
land system of the United States are the folio w^ing : 

All the lands, before they are offered for sale, are 
surveyed on a rigidly accurate plan, at the expense 
of the government. This is the corner-stone of the 
system. In this consists its great improvement 
upon the land-system of Virginia, according to which 
warrants w^ere granted to those entitled to receive 
them, for tracts of unsurveyed public land. These 
warrants might be located on any land not previously 
appropriated. . In the absence of geometrical sur- 
veys, it was difficult, by natural boundaries, Indian 
paths, and buffalo traces, to identify the spots ap- 
propriated ; the consequence was, that numerous 
warrants w^ere laid on the same tract, conflicting 
claims arose, and the land titles of the country were 
brought into a state of the most perplexing and in- 



159 

jurious embarrassment. The state of Kentucky, 
and that portion of Ohio, allotted as bounty-lands 
to the Virginia troops, have constituted one great 
theatre of litigation from their first settlement. 
On the other hand, land titles acquired under the 
system of the United States, are almost wholly ex- 
empt from controversies arising from uncertainty 
of location or boundary. 

The surveys of the public lands of the United 
States are founded upon a series of true meridians. 
The first principal meridian is in Ohio, the second 
in Indiana, the third in Illinois, &c., each forming 
the base of a series of surveys, of which the lines 
are made to correspond, so that the whole country 
is at last divided into squares of one mile each, and 
townships of six miles each ; and these subdivisions 
are distributed with mathematical accuracy into 
parallel ranges. The greatest division of land 
marked out by the survey is called a township^ 
and contains 23,040 acres, being six English or 
American square miles. The township is subdi- 
vided into thirty-six equal portions or square miles, 
by lines crossing each other at right angles ; these 
portions are called sections. The section contains 
640 acres, and is subdivided into four parts, called 
quarter sections,, each of which, of course, contains 
160 acres. The quarter sections are finally di- 



160' 

vided into two parts, called half quarter sections^ of 
eighty acres each, and this is the smallest regular 
subdivision known to the system. The sectional 
and quarter sectional divisions are designated by 
appropriate marks in the field, which are of a char- 
acter to be easily distinguished from each other. 
The half quarter sections are not marked in the 
field, but are designated on the plan* or map of 
the survey, by the surveyor-general marking the 
distance on one of the ascertained lines, in order to 
get the quantity of such half quarter sections as ex- 
hibited by his plan of survey. The fractional 
sections, which contain less than 1 60 acres, are not 
subdivided : the fractional sections, which contain 
1 60 acres and upwards, are subdivided in such man- 
ner as to preserve the most compact and convenient 
forms. 

A series of contiguous townships, laid off from 
north to south, is called a range. The ranges are 
numbered north and south from the base or stand- 
ing line running due east and west. They are 
counted from the standard meridian east and west. 

The dividing lines of the sections, of course, run 
by the cardinal points, except where what is called 
a fractional section is created by a navigable river 

* Termed " plot" in the American authority. 



161 

or an Indian boundary. The superintendence of 
the surveys is committed to five surveyors-general. 
One thirty-sixth part of all the land surveyed, being 
section number sixteen in each township, is reserved 
from sale for the support of schools in the township, 
and other reservations have been made for colleges 
and universities. All salt springs and lead mines 
are also reserved, and are subject to be leased under 
the direction of the President of the United States. 
Whenever the public interest is supposed to require 
that a certain portion of territory should be brought 
into market, for the accommodation of settlers or 
others who may wish to become purchasers, the 
president issues instructions to the surveyor-gene- 
ral, through the commissioner of the general land 
office at Washington, to have such portion of ter- 
ritory surveyed. The surveyor-general makes 
this requisition publicly known to those individuals 
who are in the habit of contracting for public sur- 
veys ; and a contract for the execution of the surveys 
required is entered into between the surveyor-gene- 
ral and deputy surveyors. The contract is given 
to the lowest bidder, provided the surveyor-general 
be fully satisfied of his capacity to fulfil the contract. 
The maximum price established by law for exe- 
cuting the public surveys is three dollars a mile, 
in the upland and prairie countries. In the south- 

V 



162 

ern parts of the United States, where the surveys 
are rendered difficult by the occurrence of bayous, 
lakes, swamps, and cane-brakes, the maximum price 
established by law is four dollars a mile. 

The deputy surveyors are bound by their con- 
tract to report to the surveyor-general the field- 
notes of the survey of each township, together with 
a plot of the township. From these field-notes the 
surveyor-general is enabled to try the accuracy of 
the plot returned by the deputy surveyor, and of 
the calculations of the quantity in the legal sub- 
divisions of the tract surveyed. From these docu- 
ments three plans or maps are caused to be pre- 
pared by the surveyor-general ; one for his own 
office ; one for the register of the proper land office, 
to guide him in the sale of the land ; and the third 
for the commissioner of the general land office at 
Washington. The government has generally found 
it expedient to authorise the surveying of forty 
townships of land annually,- in each land district, 
so as to admit of two sales by public auction annu- 
ally, of twenty townships each. 

The general land office at Washington is under 
the superintendence of an officer called commiss- 
ioner of the general land office. It is subordinate 
to the treasury department. 

The public lands are laid off into districts, in 



163 

each of which there is a land office, under the super- 
intendence of two officers, appointed hy the presi- 
dent and senate, called the register of the land 
office, and the receiver of public moneys. There 
are at present forty-two land officers. The register 
and the receiver each receive a salary of five hun- 
dred dollars per anmim, and a commission of one 
per cent on the moneys paid into their office. 

Till 1820 a credit was allowed on all purchases 
of public lands : in consequence of this system, large 
quantities of land had been purchased on specula- 
tion : and also in the ordinary course of purchases a 
vast amount of land-debt to the government had 
been contracted. To relieve the embarrassed con- 
dition of these debtors, an act was passed, authoriz- 
ing the relinquishment of lands purchased, and sub- 
stituting cash payments for the credit system. The 
most beneficial effects have resulted from this 
change, apart from the relief of those who were 
indebted to the government : at the same time the 
minimum price of the land was reduced from two 
dollars to one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. 
In the first instance the public lands are offered for 
sale, under proclamations of the president, by public 
auction, with the limitation of the minimum rate. 
Lands not thus sold are afterwards subject to entry 
at private sale, and at the minimum price. 



164 

A very large amount of public land is in the 
occupation of persons who have settled upon it 
without title. This is frequently done in conse- 
quence of unavoidable delays in bringing the land 
into market, and not from any intention, on the 
part of the settler, to delay payment. Laws have 
been passed granting to settlers of this description 
a pre-emptive right in the acquisition of a title ; 
that is, the preference over all other persons, in 
entering the land, at private sale. These laws afford 
the actual settler no protection against those who 
might choose to over-bid him at the public sales; 
but it is believed that in most cases, by mutual 
agreement among purchasers, the actual settler is 
enabled to obtain his land, even at public sale, at the 
minimum price. It is stated, however, that great 
injury is done to the settlers by combinations of 
land speculators, who infest the public sales, pur- 
chasing the lands at the minimum price, and com- 
pelling bona fide settlers to take them at an enhanced 
valuation. Should the settler refuse such an agree- 
ment, the speculators enter into competition with 
him at the sale. On the whole, it would appear 
that, on an average, the government obtains but the 
minimum price for its lands, although the quantity 
actually sold and occupied, being the choice of the 



165 

whole quantity brought into market, is of course 
worth much more. 

It has been suggested, and with an appearance 
of justice, that the price of the public lands is too 
high. The government, having already reimbursed 
itself for the cost of them, cannot be considered as 
having any other duty to perform than to promote 
their settlement as rapidly as it can take place by 
a healthy process, and to meet the wishes of all 
who desire bona fide to occupy them. Considering 
the class of men most likely to take the lead in 
settling a new country, one hundred dollars (the 
price of a half quarter-section) paid in cash to the 
government, is a tax too heavy, perhaps, for the 
privilege of taking up a farm in an unimproved 
wilderness. The price is already too low to op- 
pose a serious obstacle to speculation : a considerable 
reduction of it would not, probably, increase that 
evil, while it w^ould essentially relieve the hona fide 
settler. There would, in fact, perhaps, be little else 
to object to a plan of gratuitous donation of a half- 
quarter section to actual settlers, than the compara- 
tive injustice of such a plan towards those settlers 
who have already purchased their farms. 

A novel and singular claim has been set up in 
some of the new states to the entire property of the 
public lands within their limits. The nature of 



166 

this work does not require an examination of this 
claim ; to enforce which no attempt has as yet been 
practically made. 

It ought to be observed, that five per cent on all 
the sales of public lands within the states severally 
is reserved ; three-fifths of which are to be expended 
by congress, in making roads leading to the states ; 
and two-fifths to be expended by the states in the 
encouragement of learning. The first part of this 
reservation has been expended on the Cumberland 
road; and the treasury of the United States is 
greatly in advance to that fund, on account of this 
public work. 

The total number of acres belonging to the 
United States is 1,062,463^171. 

But the mode of disposing of the public lands, 
if their sale for the profit of the government he 
dispensed ivith, may give rise to much difficulty, in 
seeking to reconcile the interests of the United 
States with those of each of the states of the union. 
On this important point, Mr M'Lane, with his 
usual ability, thus observes : — 

"It must be admitted that the public lands were 
ceded by the states, or subsequently acquired by 
the United States, for the common benefit ; and that 
each state has an interest in their proceeds of which 
it cannot be justly deprived. Over this part of the 



167 

public property the powers of the general govern- 
ment have been uniformly supposed to have a pecu- 
liarly extensive scope, and have been construed to 
authorise their application to purposes of education 
and improvement to which other branches of reve- 
nue were not deemed applicable. It is not practi- 
cable to keep the public lands out of the market ; 
and the present mode of disposing of them is not 
believed to be the most profitable, either to the 
general government or to the states ; and must be 
expected, when the proceeds shall be no longer 
required for the public debt, to give rise to new 
and more serious objections." 

" Under these circumstances, it is submitted to 
the wisdom of congress to decide upon the propriety 
of disposing of all the public lands, in the aggregate, 
to those states, within whose territorial limits they 
lie, at a fair price, to be settled in such a manner 
as might be satisfactory to all. The aggregate 
price of the whole may then be apportioned among 
the several states of the union, according to such 
equitable ratio as maybe consistent with the objects 
of the original cession; and the proportion of each 
may be paid or secured directly to the others by 
the respective states purchasing the land. All 
cause of difficulty with the general government, 
on this subject, would then be removed -, and no 



168 

doubt can be entertained, that, by means of stock 
issued by the buying states, bearing a moderate in- 
terest, and which, in consequence of the reimburse- 
ment of the public debt, would acquire a great 
value, they would be able at once to pay the amount 
upon advantageous terms. It may not be unrea- 
sonable also to expect, that the obligation to pay 
the annual interest upon the stock thus created, 
would diminish the motive for selling the lands at 
prices calculated to impair the greater value of that 
kind of property." 

" It is believed, moreover, that the interests of 
the several states would be better promoted by such 
a disposition of the public domain, than by sales in 
the mode hitherto adopted ; and it would, at once, 
place at the disposal of all the states of the union, 
upon fair terms, a fund for the purposes of educa- 
tion and improvement, of inestimable benefit to the 
future prosperity of the nation." — See Report on 
the Finances of the United States, of Dec. 1831. 

The above details, principally from the Ameri- 
can Almanac, are compiled from and collated with 
the Land Laws published by congress ; Report from 
the Treasury to the Senate of the United States, 
February 1 827 ; Report of a Select Committee of 
the House of Representatives of the United States, 
1829; North American Review; American Quar- 
terly 5 Seybert's Statistics, &c. &c. 



169 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Gold Mines.— Mint. 

Gold has hitherto, I believe, been discovered only 
in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and 
Georgia, at least in any quantity. 

The first notice of gold, from North Carolina, 
on the records of the mint, occurs in the year 
1814, during which it w^as received to the amount 
of 11,000 dollars. It continued to be received 
during the succeeding years, until 1824 inclusive, 
in different quantities, but all inferior to that of 
1814, and on an average not exceeding 2500 
dollars a year. In 1 825, the amount received was 
17,000 dollars; in 1826, 20,000 dollars; in 1827, 
about 21,000 dollars; in 1828, nearly 46,000 dol- 
lars; and in 1829, 128,000 dollars.* 

In 1825, there was published in the " American 
Journal of Science and the Arts," an account of 
these mines by Professor Olmsted, who estimated 
the gold country at only 1000 square miles; but 
it has since been found to be vastly more extensive ; 

* Vide American Journal of Science and the Arts. 
W 



170 

and a succession of gold mines has been discovered 
in the country lying to the east of the Blue Ridge, 
extending from the vicinity of the river Potomac 
into the State of Alabama. These mines are now 
wrought, to a greater or less extent, in the states of 
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and 
Georgia. 

In an account of a Tour in North Carolina, pub- 
lished in a New York Journal, there is mention 
made of the gold mines. From this writer we learn 
that the state is rich in gold mines. The gold is 
far more extensive in that state than is generally 
supposed ; it commences in Virginia, and extends 
south-west through North Carolina, nearly in the 
middle of the state as regards its length ; along the 
northern part of South Carolina into Georgia, and 
thence north-v»x^stwardly into Alabama, and ends 
in Tennessee. The mines in North Carolina and 
Georgia are now worked to a great extent; those 
of Virginia and South Carolina to a small extent • 
and those in Tennessee have not been worked at 
all, although it is probable that they will be soon. 
In this state, the counties of Burke and Rutherford 
contains the best gold ivashings, as they are called ; 
that is, the gold there is found in small and pure 
particles mixed with the sand, which lies in depo- 
sits, as if it occupied (as the miners believe) the 
beds of what were once streams of water, creeks, 



171 

rivers, &c. The gold is there obtained by washing 
away the sand, and it is a simple process. But the 
counties of Mecklenburg, Rowan, Davidson and 
Cabarras, are the richest in what may be properly 
called gold mines; that is, where the gold is found 
in ore, and not distinguishable by the eye, and 
which is separated by smelting, using quicksilver 
for the purpose of detaching the gold from the gross 
earthy substances. This is done by first pounding 
the ore (what the miners call stamping it), then 
grinding it, mixed with the quicksilver, to a fine 
powder (like flour), and afterwards distilling the 
whole in an alembic, which separates the quick- 
silver from the gold. This part of the business is 
simple and easy ; but to become an expert and skil- 
ful miner, to detect gold in the ore with certainty, 
and to know how to conduct, if I may say so, the 
perforations, that is, sinking shafts (like wells), and 
forming and fortifying galleries or horizontal per- 
forations to reach the veins, &c. requires great in- 
genuity as well as experience. 

The best veins of gold are not horizontal, nor 
often vertical, but have a dip of forty-five degrees 
to the horizon. They vary in width from a few 
inches to several feet. They are not confined to 
hills at all, but are found also in the low lands. 
These veins are often parallel to each other at un- 



172 

equal distances. Their depth in most places has 
not been ascertained. There have been no shafts 
sunk lower than one hundred and twenty feet. 
In some of the mines the galleries, or lateral per- 
forations (or arched entries, as they may be called), 
extend a great distance in various directions from 
the main shafts, and so reach the veins. They are 
usually about twenty feet, one above another, which 
enables the miners to work with the greatest ad- 
vantage. 

These mines have not been worked to any con- 
siderable extent for more than about five or six 
years, or probably much less. And yet many of 
them are worked upon an extensive scale, and mills 
for grinding the ore, propelled by water or by 
steam, are erected in vast numbers. The company 
of Messrs Bissels, which is one of the most con- 
siderable, employs about GOO hands. The whole 
number of men now employed at the mines in 
these southern states is at least 20,000. The 
weekly value of these mines is estimated at 100,000 
dollars, or more than one million sterling annually. 
But a small part of the gold is sent to the United 
States' mint. By far the larger part is sent to 
Europe, particularly to Paris. 

Of the working miners the greater number are 



173 

foreigners — Germans, Swiss, Swedes, Spaniards, 
English, Welsh, Scotch, &c. There are no less 
than thirteen different languages spoken at the 
mines in this state ! And men are flocking to the 
mines from all parts, and find ready employment. 
Hundreds of land-owners and renters work the 
mines on their grounds on a small scale, not being 
able to encounter the expense of much machinery. 
The state of morals among the miners or labourers 
is represented to be deplorably bad. This maybe 
attributed to the absence of any general organiza- 
tion as yet for the police and regulation of the mines, 
combined with the usual effects of gold upon the 
uneducated and needy classes of men (often not the 
most favourable specimens of their various nations), 
who generally seek employment in the gold dis- 
tricts. The village of Charlotte, in Mecklenburg 
county, is in the immediate vicinity of several of 
the largest mines. It is increasing rapidly. 

One interesting fact deserves mention : — when 
speaking of the giald mines, there are indubitable 
evidences that these mines were known and ivorked 
by the aboriginal inhabitants, or some other people, 
at a remote period. Many pieces of machinery 
which were used for this purpose have been found. 
Among them are several crucihles of earthenware, 



174 

and far better than those now in use. Messrs 
Bissels have tried three of them, and found that 
they lasted twice or three times as long as even the 
Hessian crucibles, which are the best now made. 
It is to be regretted that some antiquarian has not 
had an opportunity of at least examining these 
curious relics ; and it is hoped that they will be 
preserved in future, notwithstanding the temptation 
offered by their superior qualities. 

These gold mines prove that the whole region 
in which they abound was once under the powerful 
action of fire. And it is a fact, not generally 
known, that the miners who have come from the 
mines in South America and in Europe, pronounce 
this region to be more abundant in gold than any 
other that has been found on the globe. There is 
no telling the extent of these mines : but sufficient 
is known to prove they are of vast extent. 

It is not easy to ascertain the number of mines 
which are now opened ; it is, however, very great, 
and constantly increasing. These mining establish- 
ments are of every variety as to extent of operations. 

There is a vast amount of capital invested by the 
different companies which are now embarked in 
this business. A large portion of this capital be- 
longs to foreigners. 

Since the year 1827, the gold mines of Virginia 



175 

have also attracted considerable attention. The belt 
of country in which they are found extends through 
Spotsylvania and some neighbouring counties. The 
gold region abounds in quartZj vs^hich contains cubes 
of sulphuret of iron. These cubes are often partly 
or totally decomposed, and the cells thus created 
are sometimes filled with gold. The gold is found 
on the surface, and in the structure of quartz; but 
in greatest abundance resting upon slate, and in its 
fissures. The gold is diffused over large surfaces, 
and has not yet been found sufficiently in mass, 
except in a few places, to make mining profitable. 
The method of obtaining the metal is by filtration, 
or washing the earth, and by an amalgam of quick- 
silver. The average value of the earth yielding 
gold is stated at twenty cents a bushel. 

In the annual report for 1829, the progressive 
development of the gold region of the United States 
was illustrated by referring to the increase of the 
annual receipts from North Carolina, w^hich, pre- 
vious to 1824, had been inconsiderable, but from 
that year to 1829, inclusive, had advanced from 
5000 dollars to 128,000 dollars; and also to the 
then novel occurrence of gold having been received 
at the mint from Virginia and South Carolina, 
about 2500 dollars having been received from the 
former and 3500 dollars from the latter. The 



176 

year 1830 exhibits, in relation to all these states, 
a conspicuous increase in the production of gold, 
and presents also the remarkable fact of 212,000 
dollars in gold received from Georgia, from which 
state no specimen thereof had been received at the 
mint in any previous year. 

The follow^ing statement, taken from the report 
of the director of the mint, January 1, 1831, will 
show the amount of gold received from the differ- 
ent states, as well as that from other countries, in 
the course of the year 1830. 

The coinage, during the year 1830, amounted to 





Dollars. 


Gold coins 


643,105 


Silver ditto 


2,495,400 


Copper 


17,115 



Total . 3,155,620 



The description of coins was as follows : 



Half eagles 
Quarter eagles 
Half dollars 
Dimes 
Half dimes 
Cents 

Total number of pieces 







Dollars. 


126,351 


making 


631,755 


4,540 


. 


11,350 


4,764,800 


. 


2,382 400 


510,000 




51,000 


1,240,000 




62,000 


1,711,500 


Total 


17,115 


8,357,191 


3,155,620 



177 

Of the gold coined in the course of 1830, there 
was imported from 





Dollars. 


Mexico ^ 




South America > about . 


125,000 


West Indies 3 




Africa 


19,000 


United States 


466,000 


Sources not ascertained 


33,000 


Total . 


643,000 



Of the gold found in the United States, amount- 
ing in value to about 100,000/. sterling, mentioned 
in the foregoing statement, there came from 

Dollars. 
Georgia, about . . 212,000 

North Carolina . . 204,000 

South Carolina . . 26,000 

Virginia . . . 24,000 



Total produce in the United States 466,000 



178 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

Cultivation of sugar in Louisiana. — Florida. — Slavery. 

The whole produce of sugar in Louisiana, in the 
year 1828, has been stated at 88,878 hogsheads of 
1000 pounds each. The number of sugar estates 
above 700, and the capital invested in them about 
forty-five millions of dollars ; but every year the 
increasing investments, and more than proportionate 
increase in the quantity of sugar made, renders this 
estimate but of little use at the present moment. 

In Florida, also, the cultivation of sugar has made 
great progress. I am indebted to the kindness of 
M. Achille Murat* for the follow^ing details on the 
sugar cultivation of Florida ; but I have no means 
at present of ascertaining the amount of capital now 
invested in the cultivation of the cane of that state. 

It would appear quite certain that in Florida, 
with a very moderate capital and some prudence 
and activity, a very large return is to be obtained 
for money invested in sugar plantations -, and, with 

* M. Achille Murat, it may be recollected, left Europe some 
years ago, and purchased land in Florida. He has become an 
adopted citizen of tlie United States, where his merit and abili- 
ties are duly appreciated. 



179 

perseverance, a large fortune may be realized with 
comparative certainty. The cultivation of sugar 
in that state is as yet in its infancy ; but a European 
can with difficulty imagine the rapidity with which 
improvements take place in the United States gene- 
rally ; and where the cultivation of the south suc- 
ceeds, the profits are still more encouraging than in 
the slower returns of northern industry. A few 
years ago the greater part of Florida was almost a 
wilderness ; now Tallahassee is a flourishing town, 
and great part of the state owes its growing pros- 
perity, as I am informed, to the cultivation of sugar. 

According to Colonel Murat's computation, a pur- 
chase of 240 acres may be made at three dollars an 
acre ; and a plantation stocked with all the neces- 
sary tools, provisions, mules, ploughs, clothing for 
the negroes, &c. for little more than ^1000. In 
this sum is included the value of ten slaves ; for 
the curse of slavery attends^the cultivation of sugar 
in the United States, as elsewhere. Let us hope 
that it may be practicable at a future time to con- 
tinue it without this blot upon the growing fortunes 
of America, although M. Murat certainly holds out 
little prospect of such a consummation. 

With this moderate outlay, and no material ad- 
dition to it for the space of ^three or four years, a 
return of nearly 100 per cent may be obtained. 



180 

Indeed, land may be purchased at half the sum 
mentioned above, if at a distance from towns, &c. ; 
and, by a judicious alternation of other crops, as cot- 
ton, maize, &c. very little risk or expense need be 
incurred by the cultivator. 

The Americans have frequently been reproached 
for suffering the continuance of slavery for one 
instant after the declaration of independence. It 
must be recollected that before that time they w^ere 
not allowed to abolish it, even after repeated peti- 
tions to that effect to the government of the mother 
country. 

But any person who has an opportunity of ob- 
serving personally the effects of the existence of 
this dreadful evil must, I think, allow that a sudden 
and unprepared emancipation would probably be 
productive, in the first instance at least, of evils a 
thousand-fold greater to all the parties concerned 
than even its unmitigated continuance. It is not 
one of the least lamentable effects of slavery, that it 
is apt to unfit both the oppressor* and the victim 

* I use not these terms invidiously; Captain Hall, M. Vigne, 
and many succeeding travellers, bear witness to the general kind- 
ness with which the slaves are treated in the United States. But 
it is a system, wherever it exists, whose whole existence rests 
upon a foundation of injustice, outrage, and the most atrocious 
robbery, that of the liberty, I may say the life (or its usufruct) 
of a fellow-creature. This right of an unoflfending individual to 
his liberty may be disputed by those who argue with Dumont as 



181 

for a different state of things ; and as a question of 
interest, it may be regarded as an alternative of 
wealth and power, or complete ruin to the slave- 
to the inherent rights of our nature, and would make them depend 
upon a legal title. " La declaration des droits peut se faire apres 
la constitution, mais non pas avant, car les droits existent par les 
lois, et ne les precedent pas," &c. Legislators, he asserts, must 
not be tied by general maxims false in themselves. Les hommes 
naissent litres et egatix, cela n'est pas vrai. lis ne naissent point 
libres, au contraire, ils naissent dans un etat de faiblesse et de 
dependance necessaire ; egaux — ou le sont ils ? ou pourront ils 
I'etre? entend-t'on I'egalite de fortune, de talent, de vertu, d*in- 
dustrie, de condition? le mensonge est manifeste. II faut des 
volumes pourparvenir a donner un certain sens raisonnable a cette 
egalite, que vous proclamez sans exception," &c. &c. — Vide Du- 
monVs Mirabeauj French edition, p. 98. 

By an extension of this principle there are no moral or personal 
riglits co-existent with our being, and drawing their origin from 
the same inscrutable source that gives us life ; but they depend 
entirely on the law of the land. This is an excellent argument 
for lawyers, as, carried to the farthest limit, it would declare that 
in every country, whatever may be the nature of the law, if it 
order the destruction of prisoners, or their conversion into roast 
meat, or the mastication, by instalments, of hving offenders against 
the rights of a husband, as in Sumatra; in short, wliatever the law 
decrees becomes alone an inherent right. 

To confine ourselves, however, to civilized nations, the United 
States cut the knot at once, by beginning their declaration with 
a formula, that legally gives this right, if not already in existence, 
and slavery is a continual infraction of it, not legalized by the 
federal union, but by the enactments of particular states. 

Finally, no theory has been more misunderstood than that of 
the liberty and equality of men subject to the laiv, in America. 
No constitution can render the fortunes, conditions, or abilities 
of men equal, any more than it can make any two persons phy- 
sically or moi'ally precisely similar ; or two leaves of the same 
tree perfectly alike ; nor was such an interpretation, I should 



182 

holders in many cases. Can we be surprised at 
the obstacles that are opposed to any general aboli- 
tion of this (almost universally) allowed evil, by 
those states of America whose culture and existence 
seem at present to depend on it? Let us turn 
from what must unfortunately be regarded for the 
present as a necessary evil, admitting of no imme- 
diate remedy that human prudence can adopt, to 
consider the admirable and practicable mode in 
which the existence of slavery has been done away 
with in the northern, eastern, and other considera- 
ble states in the union — in a word, in its most 

think, ever seriously intended. The natural differences of talent, 
person, disposition, &c. produce the corresponding distinctions 
among men, which artificial distinction becomes their right, by 
the same principle that secured the fruition of their natural ad- 
vantages. Certain other artificial rights, however, depending 
upon the accidents of birth, and having force of law in other 
countries, are, by the principles dominant in the United States, 
abolished. The natural dependence of man in infancy on 
the protection of his parents is by no means disturbed by the 
theory of political independence. This helplessness causes the 
contraction of a debt ot reciprocity of the good offices that the 
child receives from its parents, to be at a future period repaid 
when the infant itself becomes a parent. The rights to charitable 
protection and support possessed by the infirm in mind or body, 
depend upon a similar implied mutuality of good oflices, when- 
ever the want of them may be felt by those by whom they are now 
conferred. Revealed, or even what is called natural religion, 
shows that these common rights of mankind necessarily exist, at 
least in civilized communities, whether before or after the creation 
of a legal claim. 



183 

rapidly improving sections. By enacting the pros- 
pective emancipation of Certain slaves at fixed pe- 
riods, and the birthright of liberty to those born 
after certain terms, slavery has disappeared in states 
where it formerly extensively existed: and this 
extinction of so foul a stain has taken place without 
danger or difficulty, by the present mode of carry- 
ing it into execution. It may be in my power at 
a future time to offer some observations on subjects 
connected with the extinction of slavery, which 
the limits and nature of this work preclude. 

A serious obstacle to the advantageous emancipa- 
tion of negroes in the United States, is the extraor- 
dinary prejudice of colour. Europeans can hardly 
conceive the force with which this absurd and un- 
just prejudice acts in America, not only against 
those whose blood is unmixed, but against those 
coloured persons whom it requires much experience, 
and perhaps legal evidence to discover, as being 
under the ban of this exclusive aristocracy of com- 
plexion. If an individual, concentrating the wis- 
dom and virtues of every age in his own person, 
and inheriting the qualities of a Socrates, an Alfred, 
a Gustavus Vasa, and a Washington combined, were 
born with a negro skin in the United States, I do 
not think that he would ever be allowed a perfectly 
social equality ivith a white scoundrel. The con- 



184 

sequence of this artificial and unjust social degra- 
dation is not unfrequently a real debasement, which 
often renders the free coloured population compara- 
tively unprofitable members of society. 

Those who have the interests of their country at 
heart, and look with a prophetic eye, not only to 
the interests of humanity, but to those of policy, 
have long wished to do away with so great a source 
of w^eakness and unhappiness as the existence of 
slavery in the United States, and at the same time 
to secure for those emancipated a home, where the 
practice of the principles laid down by the declara- 
tion of independence will not be at variance with 
its theory. With this view the establishment of a 
colony was proposed so early as the year 1796, by 
a distinguished Friend or Quaker, named Gerard 
Hopkins 5 but it did not produce much useful effect 
until General C. F. Mercer, the Wilberforce of the 
American Congress, opened a correspondence with 
the philanthropists of the different states, which 
led to the formation of the American Colonization 
Society, in 1817. 

" The great objects of that society, were — the 
final and entire abolition of slavery, providing for 
the best interests of the blacks, by establishing them 
in independence upon the coast of Africa; thus 



185 

constituting them the protectors of the unfortunate 
natives against the inhuman ravages of the slaver, 
and seeking, through them, to spread the lights of 
civilization and Christianity among the fifty mil- 
lions Vfho inhabit those dark regions. To meet 
the vievv^s of all parties, they had a most difficult 
path to tread ; but as all legislation on the subject 
of slavery was specially reserved to the respective 
states by the Articles of Confederation^ and had he- 
come the hasis of the Constitution of the United 
States^ they very w^isely, instead of denouncing an 
evil v\^hich they had not the powder to overthrow, 
had recourse to the more sure, but gradual -mode of 
removing it, by enlightening the consciences, and 
convincing the judgments, of the slave-holders. 
Their theory is justified by experience ; for while 
our little colony has grown quite as fast as could 
be wished for by its most judicious friends, these 
principles have been silently gaining ground in the 
slave states, yet so rapidly, that the number of slaves 
offered gratuitously by benevolent owners, exceed 
ten-fold the present means of the society to receive 
and convey them to Jlfrica. The disposition of 
Virginia has been already shown. Delaware and 
Kentucky have also proved their anxiety to concur 
in so noble a cause; and Dr Ayres, the earliest 
governor of Liberia, now resident at Maryland, 



186 

asserts, ' that owing to the plans and principles of 
colonization being better understood, in less than 
twenty years there will be no more slaves born in 
that state.' 

'• A party in South Carolina is now almost the 
only opponent that the society has at home ; and, 
as if to afford the most incontestable evidence that 
its plan will destroy the institution of slavery in the 
United States, they ground their opposition upon 
the inevitable tendency of colonization to eradicate 
slave-holding, and thereby deprive them of their 
property. 

" But if the present means of the society are in- 
adequate to effect its purposes, it will be recollected 
that only eight years have elapsed since Cape Mes- 
surado, then a mart for the sale of 10,000 fellow- 
creatures annually, was purchased from the natives ; 
that unhallowed traffic has been entirely destroyed ; 
a flourishing colony of 2000 emancipated slaves 
has been founded; churches, schools, commerce, 
and even a newspaper established, and the confi- 
dence of the aborigines so completely won, that 
10,000 of them are, as allies of this new republic, 
participating in the blessings of civilization and 
religion. 

" The feelings of these happy people are best 



187 

described in their circular to the people of colour of 
the United States. Knowing that in the infancy 
of the society some had impugned its motives, and 
others doubted its success, they pointedly observe 
— 'judge, then, of the feelings with which we hear 
the motives and doings of the Colonization Society 
traduced — and that, too, hy men too ignorant to 
knoiv what the society had accomplished — too weak 
to look through its plans and intentions — or too dis- 
honest to acknowledge either.^ All their letters unite 
in grateful thanks for the great blessings conferred 
upon them ; and even greater are either realizing, 
or in prospect, for the savage tribes around. All 
this has been effected for the small sum of 27,000/. ; 
and its friends, at first but few, have so increased, 
in number and confidence, that one third of their 
total receipts accrued during the last year 5 several 
religious bodies have given it their earnest and unan- 
imous support ; thirteen of the states have re- 
commended it to the patronage of congress ; and* 
on the elevation of its champion, the Hon. Henry 
Clay, to the presidency, there cannot be a doubt 
that funds adequate to the fulfilment of this glori- 
ous design will be granted by the general govern- 
ment. 

* It must be recollected that these are the words and senti- 
ments of the editor of the Report of the Colonization Society. 



188 

" If the very dregs of the human race (the slav- 
ers) can drag annually from Africa 100,000 unfor- 
tunate wretches, will it be doubted that the ener- 
gies of a free people can restore half as many of her 
descendants, when prompted alike by duty and in- 
terest ? — this, in a few years, would effect a cure 
of the evil ? — the sum required is too small to be 
an obstacle. It has been shown in parliament that 
during the last twenty-four years about 8,000,000/. 
has been spent upon Sierra Leone. That sum, 
divided into thirty instalments, would, in as many 
years, settle our whole coloured population in the 
land of their ancestors. Nor can it fail to give the 
society increased confidence in the soundness of 
their own system, when they find that ministers 
have announced their intention of regulating the 
African colonies of England upon the same plan, 
and elevating the black man, by conferring upon 
his race the principal offices of the different posts. 
Neither has our scheme been unsanctioned by the 
approval of some of the best men of Britain — Rich- 
ard Dykes Alexander, a name ever prominent in 
deeds of practical philanthropy, ' convinced that a 
more rapid progress was never known in any col- 
ony towards comfort and respectability than that 
of Liberia, published an appeal in its behalf; in con- 
sequence of which, the following sums were sent to 
Barnetts, Hoare and Co., 62 Lombard-street, who 



189 

continue to act as bankers to the fund, viz." (here 
follows a list of subscribers to assist this praise- 
worthy undertaking). "Each ll, lOs. of which 
not only secures the freedom of a slave and pays 
his passage to Africa, but constitutes him a free- 
holder of thirty acres of fertile land. 

" Hence, the undersigned, as representative of the 
American Colonization Society, feels himself 
justified in drawing the same conclusion, which, 
he believes, the wise and good of all sects and all 
parties in the United States have arrived at — that 
it is the happy means, destined by a kind provi- 
dence, for securing to Africa the fulfilment of the 
glorious promises in her behalf — by effecting, in 
the mode most consistent with their interest and 
happiness, the freedom of her coloured population 
— et pari passu, destroying that inhuman traffic 
which has so long been the affliction of Africa, 
the disgrace of Europe, and the sourge of America. 

" Elliott Cresson." 

It is unnecessary for me to add any thing to the 
above extract to show the views and principles of 
this excellent and practical undertaking, which at 
a comparatively small expense has effected so much 
without the assistance of any government, or much 
loss from the effects of a climate, to which the 
coloured population become soon habituated. 



190 

Some idea of the happy effects already resulting 
from this undertaking, may be formed from such 
quotations as this, taken by chance from an Ameri- 
can paper. 

"There arrived at the American colony in Africa, 
from the 9th to the 29th of January, one ship, 
seven brigs, and three schooners, besides vessels be- 
longing to the colonists ; among them were a brig 
from France, a ship from Liverpool, and three brigs 
and a schooner from the United States. Some of 
the colonists are said to be w^orth from 1 to 1 5,000 
dollars." — Nat. Gazette^ Mpril 1831. 

The report* of the American Colonization Soci- 
ety affords ample evidence of the present utility 
and good prospects of the colonyf. It contains 

* The Reports of the Pennsylvania Colonization Society are to 
be found at Miller's and otlier booksellers in London. 

t"The true character of the African climate is not well under- 
stood in other countries. Its inhabitants are as robust, as healthy, 
as long-lived, to say the least, as those of any other country. 
Nothing like an epidemic has ever appeared in this colony j nor 
can we learn from the natives, that the calamity of a sweeping 
sickness ever yet visited this part of the continent. But the 
change from a temperate to a tropical country is a great one— 
too great not to affect the health, more or less — and, in the case 
of old people, and very young children, it often causes death. In 
the early years of the colony, want of good houses, the great 
fatigues and dangers of the settlers, their irregular mode of living, 
and the hardships and discouragements they met with, greatly 
helped the other causes of sickness, which prevailed to an alarm- 



191 

also a speech of Mr Clay's on this subject, highly 
worthy of perusal. 

ing extent, and were attended with great mortality. But we 
look back to those times as to a season of trial long past,and 
nearly forgotten. Our houses and circumstances are now com- 
fortable; and, for the last two or three years, not one person in 
forty, from the Middle and Southern States, has died from the 
change of climate. The disastrous fate of the company of settlers 
who came out from Boston in the brig Vine, eighteen months 
ago, is an exception to the common lot of emigrants, and the 
causes of it ought to be explained. Those people left a cold 
region in the coldest part of winter, and arrived here in the 
hottest season of our year. Many of them were too old to have 
survived long in any country. They most imprudently neglected 
the prescriptions of our very successful physician, the Rev. Lot 
Carey, who has great experience and great skill in the fevers of 
the country, and depended on medicines brought with them, 
which could not fail to prove injurious. And, in consequence of 
all these unfortunate circumstances, their sufferings were severe, 
and many died. But we are not apprehensive that a similar 
calamity will befall any future emigrants, except under similar 
disadvantages. 

" People now arriving have comfortable houses to receive them ; 
will enjoy the regular attendance of a physician in the slight 
sickness that may await them; will be surrounded and attended 
by healthy and happy people, who have borne the effects of the 
climate, and who will encourage and fortify them against that des- 
pondency which, alone, has carried off several in the first years 
of the colony. 

" But you may say, that even health and freedom, as good as 
they are, are still dearly paid for, when they cost you the com- 
mon comforts of life, and expose your wives and children to 
famine, and all the evils of want and poverty. We do not dispute 
the soundness of this conclusion either; but we utterh-" deny that 
it has any application to the people of Liberia. 
* " Away with all the false notions that are circulating about the 
barrenness of this country: they are the observations of such 
ignorant or designing men as would injure both it and you. A 



192 

The penitentiary system of the United States is 
well deserving of attention. Although the peniten- 

more fertile soil, and a more productive country, so far as it is 
cultivated, there is not, we believe, on the face of the earth. Its 
hills and its plains are covered with a verdure which never fades; 
the productions of nature keep on in their growth through all the 
seasons of the year. Even the natives of the country, almost 
without farming tools, without skill, and with very little labour, 
make more grain and vegetables than they can consume, and 
often more than they can sell. 

" Cattle, swine, fowls, ducks, goats and sheep, thrive without 
feeding, and require no other care than to keep them from straying. 
Cotton, coffee, indigo, and the sugar-cane, are all the spontaneous 
growth of our forests; and may be cultivated, at pleasure, to any 
extent, by such as are disposed. The same may be said of rice, 
Indian-corn, Guinea-corn, millet, and too many species of fruits 
and vegetables to be enumerated. Add to all this, we have no 
dreary winter here, for one half of the year to consume the produc- 
tions of the other half. Nature is constantly renewing herself, and 
constantly pouring her treasures, all the year round, into the laps 
of the industrious. We could say on this subject more; but we 
are afraid of exciting, too highly, the hopes of the imprudent. It 
is only the industrious and virtuous that we can point to indepen- 
dence, and plenty, and happiness, in this country. Such people 
are nearly sure to attain, in a very few years, to a style of comfor- 
table living, which they may in vain hope for in the United States; 
and, however short we come of this character ourselves, it is only 
a due acknowledgement of the bounty of Divine Providence to 
say, that we generally enjoy the good things of this life to our en- 
tire satisfaction. 

" Our trade is chiefly confined to the coast, to the interior parts 
of the continent, and to foreign vessels. It is already valuable, 
and fast increasing. It is carried on in the productions of the 
country, consisting of rice, palm oil, ivory, tortoise-shell, dye- 
woods, gold, hides, wax, and a small amount of coffee ; and it 
brings us, in return, the products and manufactures of the four 
quarters of the world. Seldom, indeed, is our harbour clear of 



193 

tiaries generally can hardly be classed among sources 
of revenue, yet in more than one instance in America 

European and American shipping ; and the bustle and thronging 
of our streets show something, already, of the activity of the 
smaller sea-ports of the United States. 

*' Mechanics, of nearly every trade, are carrying on their va- 
rious occupations; their wages are high; and a large number 
would be sure of constant and profitable employment. 

" Not a child or youth in the colony but is provided with an 
appropriate school. We have a numerous public library, and a 
court-house, meeting-houses, school-houses, and fortifications suf- 
ficient, or nearly so, for the colony in its present state. 

" Our houses are constructed of the same materials, and finished 
in the same style as in the towns of America. We have abund- 
ance of good building stone, shells for lime, and clay, of an ex- 
cellent quality, for bricks. Timber is plentiful, of various 
kinds, and fit for all the different purposes of building and fenc- 
ing- 

" Truly, we have a goodly heritage ; and if there is any thing 
lacking in the character or condition of the people of this colony, 
it never can be charged to the account of the country : it must be 
the fruit of our own mismanagement, or slothfulness, or vices. 
But from these evils we confide in Him, to whom we are in- 
debted for all our blessings, to preserve us. It is the topic of 
our weekly and daily thanksgiving to Almighty God, both in 
public and in private, and He knows with what sincerity that 
we were ever conducted, by his Providence, to this shore. Such 
great favours, in so short a time, and mixed with so few trials, 
are to be ascribed to nothing but his special blessing. This we 
acknowledge. We only want the gratitude which such signal 
favours call for. Nor are we willing to close this paper without 
adding a heartfelt testimonial of the deep obligations we owe ta 
our American patrons and best earthly benefactors, whose wisdom 
pointed us to this home of our nation, and whose active and per- 
severing benevolence enabled us to reach it. Judge^ then, of the 
feelings with which we hear the motives and doings of the Colo- 
nization Society traduced — and that, too, by men too ignorant to 
Z 



194 

they have been found not only to defray all the ex- 
penses of their establishment, but to leave a con- 
siderable balance of profit (derived from the labour 
of the prisoners), at the disposal of the state. 
There must consequently be some essential differ- 
ence in the principles upon which these establish- 
ments are carried on in our own country, or we 
should not see grants of 20,000/. and upwards made 
towards the support of similar institutions, instead 
of a return produced by the prisoners, as it is not 
for want of convicts able to work that they con- 
tinue so expensive in England. 

knoiv what that society has accomplished ; too weak to look through 
its plans and intentions; or too dishonest to acknowledge either. 
But without pretending to any prophetic sagacity, we can certainly 
predict to that society, the ultimate triumph of their hopes and 
labours, and disappointment and defeat to all who oppose them. 
Men may theorize, and speculate about their plans in America, 
but there can be no speculation here. The cheerful abodes of 
civilization and happiness which are scattered over this verdant 
mountain — the flourishing settlements which are spreading around 
it — the sound of Christian instruction, and scenes of Christian 
worship, which are heard and seen in this land of brooding pa- 
gan darkness — a thousand contented freemen united in founding 
a new Christian empire, happy themselves, and the instruments of 
happiness to others — every object, every individual, is an argu- 
ment, is demonstration, of the wisdom and goodness of the plan 
of colonization. 

" Where is the argument that shall refute facts like these ? And 
where is the man hardy enough to deny them .^" — See Report of 
American Colonization Society, extract of a letter from a colonist, 
verbatim. 



95 



SUMMARY. 

Each individual pays annually towards the public 
expenditure as follows : 

ACCORDING TO REVUE BRITANNIQUE, NO. 12, 1831. 

I. s. d. 
In France . 31 francs . or 1 5 10 

In United States . 35 francs . or 1 9 2 

MR FENIMORE COOPEr's ESTIMATE. 

In France gives no estimate. 

In United States, i. e. a citizen of New York to the 
general and state governments, including principal and 
interest of public debt, schools, support of clergy, poor, 
internal improvements, &c. 14 francs 5 centimes or 1 1 8^ 

Without the ecclesiastical expenses, the poor, or sums 
paid towards the extinction of the public debt, and in- 
terest upon it . 5 fr. 35 c. . or 4 5| 

To the state of New York 95 c.. or 9i 

GENERAL BERNARD'S CALCULATION. 

In France, without clergy (and some other expenses 

before specified) . 28fr. 12 c. . or 1 3 5^ 

In United States, ditto llfr. 47 c. . or 9 Gi^^ 

In France, without the debt, 20 fr. 57 c. . or 17 li^o 

In United States, ditto 6 fr. 6 c. . ov 5 0^1 
In United States, maximum paid by each individual 

to state government . 1 fr. 32 . or 1 1 jV 

Or to federal and state governments (exclusive of 

clergy) 10 7,\ 

CAPTAIN BASIL HALL. 

In United States, to federal government . 9 4| 

Ditto state government ... .030 

Total . 12 4^ 



196 

It would be superfluous to offer any detailed esti- 
mate after the above statements, particularly as 
the foregoing chapters and the tables in the Ap- 
pendix will enable any person to make a calculation 
of the amount paid by each individual in the 
United States towards the public expenditure. It 
would appear, however, that the estimate of Mr 
Cooper is somewhat low. By adding the estimated 
amount paid to the clergy in the United States to 
General Bernard's estimate, we obtain with suf- 
ficient accuracy the real amount. 

Allowing largely for the clergy, the state judi- 
ciaries, &c. and other items omitted by Captain 
Hall, added to the federal expenditure, the maxi- 
mum annual amount may be about thirteen shil- 
lings. 

I. s. d. 

For the average expenditure of the United King- 
dom during the years 1828-9 and 30, including the 
national debt, the clergy (of every denomination), and 
the poor-rates, an inhabitant of Great Britain pays a 
minimum of about . . . . 2 13 4 

Or, deducting the interest of national debt, say 
28,000,000/. about . . . . 1 10 

Captain Hall, gives as mean amount paid by each 
individual in the United States, l2s. 4|rf. not inclu- 
ding clergy, poor, &c. but excluding slaves, or per- 
sons not taxed . . . . . 14 5^ 

If we take from the calculation of the sum paid 
by each individual in the United Kingdom, the 



197 

number of those supported by poor-rates, &c. it 
would at least balance the difference. 

The expense of collecting the revenue in the 
United States, including what General Bernard 
calls administration centrale, is 

In LTnitecl States . . .5 and ^\ per cent. 

In France . . . . 1 2 and -j?"^ per cent. 

In England, according to Sir H. Parnell 7 and ^ per cent. 

But it is probable that Sir Henry Parnell only 
includes the expense, technically called " collection 
of the revenue" (lately, however, diminished in 
amount), and not the whole expense incurred by the 
maintenance of public offices, salaries, &c. of each 
department. The author of a pamphlet on " Brit- 
ish Relations with the Chinese Empire," makes the 
expense of collection on 97,067,847/. to be in the 
years 1828-9 and 1830, 9,402,801/. or about ten 
per cent on the amount of import duties, spirits, 
malt-liquors, wine, sugar, coffee, tobacco, and stamps. 
Vide also Quarterly, 1825. 

Dollars. c. 

The total expenditure of the federal government 
for 1831 is estimated at . . 30,967,201 25 

including, however . . . 16,189,289 00 

for the payments on the public debt. 

Leaving as the amount for current expenditure, 14,777,912 00 
or about £3,283,980. 

The receipts for 1832 are estimated at . 30,100,000 00 



198 

Viz. Customs . . 26,500,000 

Public lands . . 3,000,000 

Bank dividends . 490,000 

Incidental receipts . 110,000 



Dollars. 



The total expenditure for 1832, exclusive of 
public debt .... 13,365,202 16 

or about £2,970,045. 

Leaving a balance of . . 16,734,797 84 

or about i33,7 18,843.— Vide Mr M'Lane's Report on the Fi- 
nances of the United States. 



APPENDIX. 



Extract from " Review of Captain B. UalVs Travels.'" 

" With regard to the judicial establishments of the two countries, 
he is perpetually referring, in the language of taunt, to the superior 
firmness of the tenure of office in England. It is plain, from every 
word he utters, that he is under a complete delusion as to the real 
state of the fact. In England the judges can be removed by a bare 
majority of the legislature, without any form of trial, or even an alle- 
gation of their having committed any offence. Paley states this with 
his usual correctness {^Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy): 
' As protection against every illegal attack upon the rights of the 
subject by the servants of the crown is to be sought for from these 
tribunals, the judges of the land become not unfrequently the arbi- 
trators between the king and the people, on which account they 
ought to be independent of either; or what is the same thing, equally 
dependent on both; that is, if they be appointed by the one, they 
should be removable only by the other. This was the policy which 
dictated that memorable improvement in our Constitution^ by which 
the judges, who, before the revolution, held their offices during the 
pleasure of the king^ can now be deprived of them only by an ad- 
dress from both houses of parliament, as the most regular, solemn 
and authentic way by which the dissatisfaction of the people can be 
expressed.' Mr Hallam, in his Constitutional History (vol. i. p. 
245), remarks, ' No judge can be dismissed from office except in 
consequence of a conviction for some offence, or the address of both 
houses of parliament, which is tantamount to an act of legislature." 
And thus the matter rests at the present day. The same casting vote 
which suffices to pass a law may dismiss the judge whose interpreta- 



200 

tion of it is not acceptable. This is not the case in any part of the 
United States. The judges of the national courts cannot be reached 
by address at all; they may defy the president and both houses of 
congress. In the states where this English provision has been copied, 
it has been rendered comparatively harmless by requiring the con- 
currence of two-thirds of each branch of the legislature in order to 
effect the removal. 

" Let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, a question to arise on 
the emancipation bill, as it is called, of last session. The most strenu- 
ous supporters of that bill admitted it to be a violation of what they de- 
signated as the constitution of 1688. In Mr Peel's speech, less than 
a year before, he declared, ' If the constitution was to be considered 
the king, lords, and commons, it would be subverting that constitu- 
tion to admit Roman Catholics to the privileges they sought; it would 
be an important change in the state of the Constitution as established 
at the revolution.'' (^Speech in May 1828.) Lord Tenderden, the 
chief justice of the court of king's bench, in resisting in the house of 
lords the bill subsequently introduced by Mr Peel himself, declared 
that ' he looked upon the proposed measure as leading by a broad 
and direct road to the overthrow of the Protestant Church.' (Times, 
April 6, 1829.) Suppose the sergeant-at-arms should thrust back 
Mr O'Connell on his attempting to enter the house of commons, or 
any other cause arise bringing up the act: were Lord Tenderden, as 
a judge, to use any language of an unsatisfactory kind, he might be 
hurled from his seat by that very legislature, which was induced to 
pass the law. In the United States the people have denied themselves 
this power. Mr Chief Justice Marshall might move intrepidly on, 
where Lord Chief .Tustice Tenderden must yield or be sacrificed. 
CongressyatV/^/ and equally represents the whole country, yet it has 
not the power of a British parliament to bring to bear on judges what 
Paley calls ' the displeasure of the people.' 

" It is a subject of curious reflection, that until the constitution 
of 1688, or rather until the 13th year of Will. III., judges were, as 
Paley remarks, the creatures of the crown. The actual power of 
judicial appointment at present resides in Mr Peel, the home secre- 
tary. He has said that the constitution of 1688 would be subverted 
by measures which he has since urged through parliament; if so, the 
king has an unlimited power of making and unmaking judges. Put 
that constitution out of view, and Lord Tenderden may be dismissed 
in the same way as his predecessor Lord Coke was, in the time of 
James the first. 



201 

" Captain Hall has sad misgivings; he tells us as to what will be 
our fate if the supreme court should at any time falter in its duty, and 
consent to execute an unconstitutional law. Now there is, of course, 
no end to the hypotheses which an ingenious mind may frame as to 
the effect of derelictions of duty, by any department of a government. 
The house of commons may, as Paley remarks, " put to death the 
constitution, by the refusal of the annual grants of money to the sup- 
port of tiie necessary functions of government." So may the judici- 
ary commit some suicidal act. We have given to our judges every 
motive to a higli and fearless execution of their trust; the oath to sup- 
port the constitution, — absolute immunity, — and, on the other hand, 
the infamy of judicial cowardice. Human precaution can go no fur- 
ther. But where are we if all these securities prove ineffectual? 
Just where other countries are which do not intrust to the judge the 
power of canvassing a legislative act. What was the history of our 
revolution? Whilst we were a part of the British empire, an attempt 
was made to tax us in defiance of a common law principle. As the 
courts stood ready to enforce these odious measures, we were driven 
to arms. Lord Chatham declared us to be in the right. Mr Fox 
has subsequently placed on record his opinion that our resistance 
preserved the integrity of the English constitution, and parliament 
itself has recognised the justice of our course by a definition of the 
true colonial principle. Our present position is this: — we have pla- 
ced our judges in a situation far more independent than the same 
functionaries enjoy in England. We are a patient, quiet people, 
and will submit to a great deal even of what we deem injustice, ra- 
ther than put all these blessings in peril by violence: but, finally, we 
hold in reserve for intolerable grievances what Blackstone describes, 
even in England, as the last resort. 

" It is the more to be regretted that Captain Hall should have ex- 
hibited an absurd ignorance on this subject, as he has thereby dimi- 
nished materially the chance of our profiting by his criticism, even 
when better founded. A foreigner is often struck by errors to which 
the people, amongst whom they exist, are rendered insensible, and 
his candid and temperate exposure of them may lead to a reforma- 
tion, which might have been struggled for in vain by those whose mo- 
tives were more liable to suspicion. Thus, he very justly denounces 
the practice, in a few of the states, of rendering the judges periodi- 

3 A 



202 

cally elective, thinking that they are thereby exposed to, at least, a 
suspicion of servility to the government. He thinks that they ought 
to be placed on the same footing with the judges of the United States, 
and of the largest states; but unfortunately he has thrown away all 
his influence as an auxiliary, by seriously pretending to refer these 
misguided people, in the most triumphant manner, to the case of 
England, when they are too well aware that an evil of tl)e same 
character exists in that country, in a form infinitely more odious and 
alarming, and on a scale altogether stupendous. 

"The allusion is, of course, to the high court of chancery. 
There is a sum at stake in the litigation of that court — nay, actually 
locked up awaiting its decisions — equal to the value of the fee- 
simple of the states in question, and all their movables into the 
bargain— a sum more than sufficient to pay off the whole national 
debt of the United States several times over. Its jurisdiction is of 
the most diffusive character, and it may be said to reach in some 
way, either directly or indirectly, the interests or the sympathies of 
every individual in the community. As no court presents so many 
temptations to indirect practices, so there is no one in which they 
may be so readily veiled. A year's delay, to obtain which might 
be an object of sufficient importance to warrant an enormous bribe, 
would scarcely excite even suspicion in a court whose procrastina- 
ting temper is proverbial. There is no jury to participate in its 
labours, or to clieck an improper bias; nor do its proceedings 
possess that kind of popular interest which attracts to them the 
supervision even of the readers of the nexYspapers. What is the 
tenure by which this almost boundless power over the anxieties and 
the interests of the community is held? The will of the minister of 
the day: his breath can make or unmake tlie lord chancellor. A 
premier would instantly resign if his declared wish for the removal 
of this officer should be disregarded: such a refusal would be con- 
sidered as depriving him of an authority essential to the discipline 
of the cabinet, and to that concert and cordiality on which the 
success of its measures must so greatly depend. When it is recol- 
lected that within the brief space of nine months, there stood at the 
head of affiiirs in Great BritainjTowr different individuals in succession 
(Lord Liverpool, Mr Canning, Lord Goderich, the Duke of 
Wellington), it will readily be conceded that the chancellor can 
never consider himself as altogether safe, since he is liable to be 



203 

sacrificed, not merely to any particular scheme of policy, which he is 
accused of thwarting, but even to those impulses of temper, on the 
one side or the other, through which Mr Huskisson ceased to be a 
minister. It seems to be universally agreed that Lord Lyndhurst 
must have gone out, as the attorney-general did, had he not voted 
for the Relief Bill of last session. 

''If we look back to the history of this court we shall see plainly 
what has been the practical consequence of this state of things. 
The mind involuntarily turns to Lord Bacon: the 'greatest, wisest' 
of mankind, he became lord chancellor only to furnish to the poet a 
sad antithesis to these epithets. There is nowhere to be found a 
more mortifying rebuke to the pride of human nature than is fur- 
nished in witnessing the influence of circumstances over a mind so 
wholly without a parallel in modern times, whether we refer to 
original power and compass, or to extent of acquirement. His 
appointment, as appears by his own letters, was brought about by 
Buckingham, the favourite of King James. The abject subjec- 
tion in which he was held is thus stated by his biographer Mallet, 
' During the king's absence in Scotland, there happened an affair, 
otherwise of small importance, but as it lets us into the true genius 
of those times, and serves to show in what miserable subjection the 
flivourite held all those who w-ere in public employments. He was 
on the point of ruining Sir Francis Bacon, the person he had just 
contributed to raise; not for any error or negligence in their 
master's service, but merely for an opinion given in a thing that 
only regarded his own family. Indeed, such was his levity, such 
the insolence of his power, that the capricious removal of men from 
their places became the prime distinction of his thirteen years' 
favour, which, as Bishop Hacket observes, was like a sweeping 
flood that at every spring-tide takes from one land to cast what it 
has taken upon another.' And again, 'nor even thus did he 
presently regain his credit with Buckingham; the family continued 
to load him with reproaches: and he remained long under that 
agony of heart wJiich an aspiring man must feel when his power 
and dignity are at the mercy of a king's minion, young and giddy 
with his elevation. They were, however, reconciled at last, and 
their friendship, if obsequiousness in one, to all the humours of the 
other, deserves the name of friendship, continued without interruption 
for some years; while Buckingham went on daily to place and dis- 



204 

place the great officers of the crown, as wantonness of fancy, or 
anger, or interest led him; to recommend or discountenance every 
private person, lolio had a suit depending in any court just as he 
was infiueaced; to authorise and protect every illegal project that 
could serve most speedily to enrich himself or his kindred,' &c. 

"At length his bribery and venality became so flagrant and no- 
torious, that it was found necessary to put him aside. 

" What brought about the dismissal of Lord Clarendon from the 
same high ofiice? We are told that the gravity of his deportment 
' struck a very unpleasing awe into a court filled with licentious 
persons of both sexes;' certain false suggestions were in consequence 
got up, which, ' assisted by the solicitations of the ladies of pleasure, 
made such impressions upon the king, that he at last gave way and 
became willing, and even pleased, to part both from his person and 
services.' (Chalmerses Biographical Dictionary, art. Hyde.) 
PepySf secretary to the admiralty, in the reign of Charles II. thus 
refers, in his Diary, recently edited by Lord Braybrooke, to the 
same transaction. 'This day, Mr Pierce, the surgeon, was with 
me, and tells me how this business of my lord chancellor's was 
certainly designed in my Lady Castlemain's chamber; and that 
when he went from the king on Monday morning she was in bed 
(though about twelve o'clock), and ran out in her smock into her 
aviary, looking into Whitehall-garden; and thither her woman 
brought her her night-gown, and stood blessing herself at the old 
man's going away.' 

" Clarendon's integrity could not be overcome. Had he proved 
weak as Lord Bacon, he would have been drawn into the same 
wretched thraldom to the male or female favourite of the hour. 
Influence, wherever lodged, would have been an object of dread; 
and the power of alarming the anxieties of the chancellor have 
proved the best perquisite of the king's mistress. A magistrate 
thus debased would quickly come to understand that he might give 
as much ofience by an honest decree as by the gravity of his deport- 
ment, and even should an exposure ultimately take place, it would be 
impossible to trace the taint of corruption through the vast and 
complicated business of the court, much less to redress the mischief 
which had been done. 

" Coming into the next century, we find Lord Chancellor the 
Earl of Macclesfield, disgraced for bribery and venality. 



205 

" The circumstances which more recently led to the dismissal of 
Lord Camden are thus stated by the Earl of Chatham, in his speech 
explanatory of the pension granted to that illustrious magistrate, 
prior to his appointment as chancellor. (iSee Gentleman's Maga- 
zine for 1770, p. 104.) ' I recommended him to be chancellor; 
his public and private virtues were acknowledged by all; they made 
his situation more precarious. I could not reasonably expect from 
him that he should quit the chief-justiceship of the common pleas, 
which he held for life, and put himself in the power of those who 
were not to be trusted, to be dismissed from the chancery, perhaps 
the day after his appointment. The public has not been deceived 
by his conduct. My suspicions have been justified. His integrity 
has made him once more apoor and a private man ; he was dismissed 
for the vote he gave in favour of the right of election in the subject.' 
In the same volume, p. 141, will be found 'The Humble Address, 
Remonstrance, and Petition of the Electors of the City and Liberty 
of Westminster, assembled in Westminster-hall, the 28th March 
1770,' in which they say, 'by the same secret and unhappy influ- 
ence to which all our grievances have been originally owing, the 
redress of those grievances has been now prevented; and the griev- 
ances themselves have been repeatedly confirmed, with this additional 
circumstance of aggravation, that while the invaders of our rights 
remain the directors of your majesty^s counsels, the defenders of 
those rights have been dismissed from your majesty's service, your 
majesty having been advised by your ministers to remove from his 
employment for his vote in parliament the highest officer of the law, 
because his principles suited ill with theirs, and his pure distribution 
of justice with their corrupt administration of it in the house of 
commons.' 

" Whilst, therefore, the great law officer of England sits at the 
council board, and at the banquet, with the sword suspended over 
his head by a single hair — whilst in the middle of a cause he may 
learn that his judicial functions are at an end — Captain Hall, with a 
generous waiver of all selfish considerations, thinks only of the poor 
souls on the other side of the Atlantic. 

* Woe, woe, for Indiana, not a whit for me!' 

" His sympathies are on a mission to the Ohio, to awaken people 
there to a sense of their perilous condition, whilst his own brethren 



206 

are left unheeded behind. He dreads lest in the legislature of some 
one of the states composed of men ' who have come straight from 
the plough, or from behind tlie counter, from chopping down trees, 
or from the bar,' corruption may be found. He has no fear of the 
abuse of power by an individual." 



207 



General Table of all Religious Denominations throughout the United States, 
specifying the number of Ministers, Churches, Communicants, and Indivi- 
duals. 



Denominations. 


"c 


E 5.2 
2^ « 
•J o 

4,384 


i ? 


ti 

c Z 
2,743,453 


1. Culvinistic Baptists . 


2,914 


304,827 


2. Methodist Episcopal Church 


1,777 




476,000 


2,600,000 


3. Presbyterians (General Assembly) 


l,t01 


2,253 


182,017 


1,800,000 


4. Congregationalists (orthodox) 


1,000 


1,270 


140,000 


1,260,000 


5. Protestant Episcopal Church 


558 


700 




600,000 


6. Universalists .... 


150 


300 




500,000 


7. Roman Catholics 








500,000 


8. Lutherans .... 


205 


1,200 


44,000 


400,000 


*9. Christians .... 


200 


800 


25,000 


275,000 


10. German Reformed 


84 


400 


17,400 


200,000 


11. Friends, or Quakers . 




400 




200,000 


12. Unitarians (Congreg-ationalists) 


160 


193 




176,000 


13. Associate and other Methodists 


350 




35,000 


175,000 


14. Free-will Baptists 


300 


400 


16,000 


150,000 


15. Dutch Reformed 


159 


194 


17,888 


125,000 


16. Mennouites .... 


200 




30,000 


120,000 


17. Associate Presbyterians 


74 


144 


15,000 


100,000 


18. Cumberland Presbyterians 


50 


75 


8,000 


100,000 


19. Tunkers, or Dunkers 


40 


40 


3,000 


30,000 


20. Free-communion Baptists 


30 




3,500 


30,000 


21. Seventh-day Baptists 


30 


40 


2,000 


20,000 


22. Six-principle Baptists 


25 


30 


1,800 


20,000 


23. United Brethren, or Moravians 


23 


23 


2,000 


7,000 


24. Millenial Church, or Shakers 


45 


15 




6,000 


25. New Jerusalem Church 


30 


28 




5,000 


26. Emancipators (Baptists) 


15 




600 


4,500 


27. Jews and others not mentioned, San- 










demanians 




150 




50,000 



N.B. Lists of many more than double the above number of sects and deno- 
minations as existing in England and elsewhere, are given by Evans, Hannah 
More, Hulbert, &c.; but these are all that are mentioned by the " American Al- 
manac," for 1832 (a most useful work published at Boston); " Quarterly Regis- 
ter of American Education;" " Sword's Ecclesiastical Register;" " Report of 
American Unitarian Association," &c. &c. on which authorities the above table 
is given. — W. G. 0. 



208 



General Bernard's Comparative Statement 



FRENCH BUDGET. 

Francs. Francs, 

Public Debt .... 247,943,065 

Civil List .... 32,000,000 

Justice . . 19,097,020 

Administration Centrale . 552,000 

Total 19,649,020 

Foreign Affairs . 8,180,000 

Administration Centrale . 820,000 

Total 9,000,000 

Interieur, or Home Department. 
Pants et chaussccs, viines, travaux 

publics, lignes telegraphique, &c. 91,513,517 
Miscellaneous . . 12,935,483 

Administration Centrale . 1,151,000 

Total 105,600,000 

Ecclesiastical Affairs . 35,551,500 

Administration Centrale . 370,000 

Total 35,921,500 

Public Instruction ' . . • 1,995,000 

Commerce and Manufactures 2,844,000 

Administration Centrale . 450,200 

Total 3,294,200 



209 



of the French and American Budgets. 



AMERICAN BUDGET. 

Francs, Cs. Francs. Cs. 

Public Debt . . . 52,500,000 00 

Civil List . . . 131,250 00 



Department of State . .3,179,10169 

Central Administration . . 170,409 75 



Total — 3,349,511 44 



2 B 



210 



Francs. Francs. 



War Department . . 185,623,000 

Jldministration Centrale . 1,577,000 

Total 187,200,000 

Marine, or Naval Department 64,480,000 

Administration Centrale . 790,000 

Total 65,270,000 

Finance . . . 94,954,100 

Administration Centrale . 5,000,000 

Total 99,954,100 

Post Office . . 14,546,294 

Adiniitistration Centrale . 2,233,530 

Total 16,779,824 



Administration of Public Revenues 108,388,268 
Central Administration . 3,000,955 
(Without the Post Office) Total • 111,389,223 

Reimbursements and Compensations . 49,939,397 

Total of French Budget . . 977,935,329 

Or (at 25 francs) about £39,1 17,413 



211 



Francs. Cs. Francs. Cs. 



War Department 
Army, Fortifications, and Ma- 
teriel of Artillery . 20,601,943 47 
Public Works . . 4,454,748 06 
Indians . . 2,749,725 14 
Central Administration . 327,429 38 

Total 28,133,846 05 

Naval Department . 22,466,660 21 

Central Administration . 247,112 25 

Total 22,713,772 46 

Treasury Department . 21,911,335 85 

Central Administration . 1,369,987 50 

Total 23,281,323 35 

Post Office . . . 321,772 50 

(This is not a branch of public revenue in the 
United States; the receipts cover the expendi- 
ture, all but the mere expenses of office or Ad- 
ministration Centrale.) 



Total of American Budget . 13Q, 43 1,475 80 

Or (at 25 francs) £5,2 1 7,259 



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214 

Tahle^ showing the Governor's Term and Salary, the number of 
Senators and Representatives, with their respective Terms and 
Pay in the different States. 





Govr's 






Term 


Repre- 


Term 


Total 


Pay 


Expense 
of one 


States. 


term of 


Salary. 


Sena- 


of 


senta- 


of 


of sen. 


in dol- 


month 




years. 




tors. 


years. 


tives. 


years. 


& rep. 


lars. 


for sen. 








20 


1 








2.00 


and rep. 


Maine 


1 


1500 


153 


1 


173 


10,380 


New Hampshire 


1 


1200 


12 


1 


229 


1 


236 


2.00 


14,160 


Vermont* 


1 


750 


none 




230 


1 


230 


1.50 


10,350 


Massacliusettsj- 


1 


56662 


40 


1 


481 




521 


2.00 


31,260 


Rhode Island 


1 


400 ' 


10 


1 


72 


1 

•J 


82 


1.50 


3,690 


Connecticut^ 


1 


1100 


21 


1 


208 


1 


229 


2.00 


13,740 


New York 


2 


4000 


32 


4 


128 


1 


160 


3.00 


1,440 


New Jersey!^ 


1 


2000 


14 


1 


50 


1 


64 


3.00 


5,760 


Pennsylvania 


3 


4000 


33 


4 


100 


1 


133 


3.00 


10,970 


Delaware 


3 


loooj 


9 


3 


21 


1 


30 


2.50 


2,250 


Maryland 


1 


3.500 


15 


5 


80 


1 


95 


4.00 


11,400 


Virginia 


3 


3333| 


32 


4 


134 


1 


166 


4.00 


19,920 


North Carolina 


1 


2000 


64 


1 


134 


1 


198 


3.00 


17,820 


South Carolina 


2 


3900 


45 


4 


124 


2 


169 


4-00 


20,280 


Georgia 


2 


3000 


78 


1 


142 


1 


220 


4.00 


26,400 


Alabama 


2 


2000 


22 


3 


'72 




94 


4.00 


11,280 


Mississippi 


2 


2500 


11 


3 


36 


1 


47 


3.00 


4,230 


Louisiana 


4 . 


7500 


17 


4 


50 


2 


67 


4.00 


7,040 


Tennessee 


2 


2000 


20 


2 


60 


2 


80 


4.00 


9,600 


Kentucky 


4 


2(j00 


38 


4 


100 


1 


138 


2.00 


8 280 


Ohio 


2 


1200 


36 


2 


72 


1 


108 


3.00 


9,720 


Indiana 


o « 


1000 


23 


3 


62 


1 


85 


2.00 


5,100 


Illinois 


4 


lOOu 


} 


4 


} 


2 


? 


3.00 


? 


Missouri 


4 


1500 


IS 


4 
ars, or 


49 
about 


2 
12,60 


65 


3.00 


5,940 


5 6,38 J i 


11 doll 


3/. Total K 


261,010 


or, allowing 6, 


JOf) dollars for lUi 


nois, n 


ot asce 


rtaine 


d, 267,010 dollars. ( 



* There is nt) senate in tlie le£;isldture of Vennout; but the executive council, 
consistiiio; of the };overnor, lieutenant governor, and twelve counsellors, elected 
by ihe IVeenicn, are empowered to lay helore the general assembly such business 
as shiiil appear to them necessary; also to revise and propose ameudmeuts to the 
laws passed by the house of representatives. 

t The number of representatives in the legislature of Massachusetts in 1831 
was 4S1,- but the number is veiy variable. 

X The pay of ilie senator-^, in the legislature of Connecticut, is two dollars a 
day, that ol the representatives 1.50. 

^ The upper house, which forms an independent branch of the legislature of 
New Jersey, is styled the " Le:;i"slative Council." 

II These salaries appear very low; but it must be remaiked, that the post of go- 
vernor of a state is less one of emolument than of distinction and power; the 
expense it eniails generally greatly exceeding the amotmt of salary. It is some- 
what analogous, in this respect, to the lord-lieutcnantcies of counties in this country. 

IT A small allowance per mile is made for the travelling expenses of the mem- 
bers of the legislature, the exact aggregate amount of which sums it would be 
difficult to calculate: by allowing a session of nearly five months in the year, Iq 
all the states, we certainly cover this expense. 

From Ihe above table it will appear that the total amount of the sums paid to 
the senators and representatives of the state legislatures throughout the whole 
union, together with the salaries of the governors, would not amount to 280,000Z. 
English, if all the legislatures were to remain in session between four and five 
months in the year (the average is perhaps not more than two or three months, 
'in reality).— W. G. O. 



215 



Statement^ showing the aggregate number of persons in each of 
the States, according to the fifth census, and distinguishing 
the Slave from the Free Population in each State, according to 
the correctio7is made in the returns of the Mlarshals and their 
assistants by the Secretary of State. 

(From Letter of Secretary of State to Speaker of House of Representatives, 
dated Jan 4, 1832.) 





Number of 


Number 


Total of 






States. 


white per- 


of free 


free per- 


Slaves. 


Total of all 




sons. 


colored. 


sons. 




descriptions. 
399,437 


Maine 


398,260 


1,171 


399,431 


6 


New Hampshire 


268,721 


602 


269,323 


5 


269,328 


Massachusetts 


603,359 


7,045 


610,404 


4 


610,408 


Rhode Island 


93,621 


3,564 


97,185 


14 


97,199 


Connecticut 


289,603 


8,047 


297,650 


25 


297,675 


Vermont 


279,7-6 


881 


280,657 


none 


280,657 


New York 


1,868,061 


44,869 


1,912,930 


76 


1,913,006^ 
*1255 
320,823 


New Jersey 


300,266 


18,303 


318,569 


2,254 


Pennsylvania 


1,309,900 


37,930 


1,347,830 


403 


1,348,233 


Delaware 


57,601 


15,855 


73,456 


3,292 


76,748 


Maryland 


291,108 


52,938 


344,046 


102,994 


447,040 


Virginia 


694,300 


47,348 


741,648 


469,757 


1,211,405 


North Carolina 


472,843 


19,543 


492.386 


245,601 


737,987 


South Carolina 


257,863 


7,921 


265,784 


315,401 


581,185 


Georgia 


296,806 


2,486 


299,292 


217,531 


516,823 


Alabama 


190,406 


1,572 


191,978 


117,549 


309,527 


Mississippi 


70,443 


519 


70,962 


65,659 


136,621 


Louisiana 


. 89,231 


16,710 


105,941 


109,588 


215,529 1 
*2105 












Tennessee 


535,746 


4,555 


540,301 


141,603 


681,904 


Kentucky 


517,787 


4,917 


522,704 


165,213 


687,917 


Ohio 


926,311 


9,567 


935,878 


6 


935,884 


Indiana 


339,399 


3,629 


343,028 


3 


343,031 


Illinois 


115,061 


1,637 


156,698 


747 


157,445 


Missouri 


114,795 


569 


115,364 


25,091 


140,455 



* Aliens, or persons not classified under the above heads. 

N.B. It will be perceived that the population returns for the territories of Flo- 
rida, Arkansa and Michigan, and the district of Columbia, being wanting, no 
total is here given of the whole population of the United States, which probably 
amounts, however, to, at present, as nearly as possible, 13,000,000. In 1830 
the census gave 12,856,165 as the total population. — W. G. O. 



216 



STEAM-BOAT NAVIGATION FROM ST LOUIS. 

St Louis is 1200 miles, by the course of the river, above New 
Orleans, and is, next to that city, the largest and most commercial 
town on the Mississippi. In the summer of 1831 there were six 
steam-boats reguJarly employed between St Louis and New Or- 
leans. A trip from on^ place to the other, and back again, usually 
occupies twenty-four days; the shortest time in which one was ever 
made, eighteen days. The usual fare for cabin passengers descend- 
ing, 20 dollars; ascending, 23 dollars; for deck passengers, 5 dol- 
lars, either way. Freight per 100 lbs. descending, 37^ cents; 
ascending, 62^ cents. 

From St Louis to Louisville, 630 miles; six boats regularly run- 
ning, in 1831; usual time of a trip ten or eleven days; the passage 
one way usually being somewhat more than three days: fare of cabin 
passengers about 15 dollars, either way; deck passengers 4 dollars: 
freight about 25 cents per 100 lb. One boat also ran regularly to 
Cincinnati, 150 miles above Louisville. 

From St Louis to Fever River, about 480 miles, three steam- 
boats regularly employed in 1831; time occupied by atrip about ten 
days: fare for passengers ascending, 15 dollars; descending, 9 dol- 
lars. The route of one of the boats occasionally extended to St 
Peter's River, 400 miles further up. 

In 1821 two boats were employed in running from St Louis up 
the Missouri to Franklin, 200 miles, and to Fort Leavenworth, 200 
miles further: freight to Franklin 75 cents per 100 lbs. , and to Fort 
Leavenworth from 1.25 to 1.50 dollars: from Frankhn down, 25 
cents per 100 lbs. 

From St Louis to Pekin, on Illinois River, 180 miles: two or 
three boats regularly employed in 1831. Steam-boats come occa- 
sionly to St Louis, from Pittsburg and other places. 



217 



Whole number of Steam Boats built on the Western Waters. 



'5 

-a 

c 


u 

P 
1 


bD 

_c 

'c 
c 

3 


s 
o 
c 
o 


Of the Uoals now runiiinic, 


01 


11 




o 
o 






1811 


1 




1 


68 were bui 


It at Cincinnati 


1814 


4 




4 


G8 


Pittsbiirg-h 


1815 


3 




3 


2 


Louisville 


1816 


2 




2 


12 


New Albany 


1817 


9 




9 


7 


Marietta 


1818 


23 




23 


2 


Zanesville 


1819 


27 




27 


1 


Fredericksburgh 


1820 


7 


1 


6 


1 


Westport 


1821 


6 


1 


5 


1 


Silver Creek 


1822 


7 




7 


1 


Brush Creek 


1823 


13 


1 


12 


2 


AVheeling 


1824 


13 


1 


12 


1 


Nashville 


1825 


31 


19 


12 


2 


Frankfoi't 


1826 


52 


36 


16 


1 


Smithland 


1827 


25 


19 


6 


1 


Economy 


1828 


31 


28 


3 


6 


Brownsville 


1829 


53 


S^i 




o • . 


Portsmouth 


1830 


30 


30 




2 


Steubenville 


1831 


9 


9 




2 

1 

3 ... 

1 

10 


Beaver 
St Louis 
New York 
. Philadelphia 
Not known 




348 


198 


150^ 


198t 





* Of the 150 lost or worn out, there were: — 

Worn out . . .63 

Lost by " snags" . ■ . .36 

Burnt .... 14 

Lost by collision ... 3 

By other accidents, not ascertained 24 



Total 150 

t 01 this whole number, 111 were built at Cincinnati, 68 of which were run- 
ning in 183L 

2 c 



218 



Expenses to each State of its Judiciary, including the Territories 
and District of Columbia. 



Maine 

New Hampshire 

Vermont, about 

Massachusetts 

Rhode Island,* about 

Connecticutf 

New York J 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania§ 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginiall 

North Carolinall 

South Carolina 



Dollars.' 

10,000 

7,800 

6,000 

29,800 

2,000 

6,158 

26,500 

3,400 

50,666 

5,500 

23,000 

12,720 

12,900 

34,072 



230,416 





Dollars. 


Georgia** 


16,800 


Alabama 


12,250 


Mississippi 


12,000 


Louisiana, about 


20,000 


Tennessee 


22,700 


Kentuckytt 


20,900 


Ohio|| 


13,800 


Indiana§§ 


7,000 


Illinois 


4,700 


Missouri 


8,300 


District of Columbiallll 


9,000 


Florida 


6,000 


Michigan 


6,000 


Arkansas 


6,000 



165,460 



Total 



395,866 Dollars. 



* In Rhode Island some of the judges are paid by fees. 

f In Connecticut county courts the chief judges have three and a half dollars 
per diem; associate judges, three dollars during session, and nine cents per mile 
for their journeys. 

X In New York, the registers, reporters, and clerks of Chancery and Superior 
Courts are paid by fees. 

§ In Pennsylvania, the prothonotaries paid by fees; judges of Superior Courts, 
when travelling, four dollars per diem. 

II In Virginia, the judges receive one quarter of a dollar per mile, for travelling, 
additional. 

IT In North Carolina there are some fees. 

** In Georgia some fees. 

\\ In Kentucky there are some fees. 

XX In Ohio there are fees, and associate judges in each county court receive 
two and a half dollars per diem during courts. 

§§ In Indiana, the associates get two dollars per diem. 

lilj In the district of Columbia there are fees also. — W. G. 0. 



219 



Cones;es in the United States. 























uj 


o __. 


"O CO 


4^ 


Name. 


Place. 


:5 £ 


» 


I'l 


-3 .- 


C 

-a 






1 79 i 


7 


392 


II 

39 


3 

137 


Bowdoin 


Brunswick, Maine 


VVaterville 


Walerville, Do 


1S20 


5 


GO 


19 


45 


Dartmouth 


Hfinover N. Hampshire 


1 770 


9 


2-250 


530 


153 


University of Vermont 


Burlington, Vermont 


1701 


4 


182 




36 


Middlebiiry 


Middlebury, Do 


ISOO 


5 


509 


205 


99 


Ifarward University 


Cambridge, Massachusetts 


1038 


24 


5021 


1424 


236 


Williams 


VVilliamstown, Do 


179,3 


7 


721 


215 


115 


Amherst 


Amherst, Do 


18'21 


10 


208 


52 


183 


Brown University 


Providence, Rhode Island 


1764 


6 


1182 


442 


95 


Yale 


New Haven, Connecticut 


1700 


15 


4428 


1257 


346 


Washington 


Hartford, Do 


1826 


9 


25 




70 


Wesleyan University 


MiddletoM'n, Do 


1831 


5 








Columbia 


New York, New York 


1754 





8S0 




124 


Union 


Schenectady, Do 


1793 


10 


1373 


268 


205 


Hamilton 


Clinton, Do 


1812 


7 


189 


20 


77 


Geneva 


Geneva, Do 


182,3 


6 


15 


6 


31 


College of New Jersey 


F^rinceton, New Jersey 


1740 


10 


1930 


400 


105 


Rutgers 


New Brunswick, Do 


1770 


5 






70 


University of Pennsylvania 


Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 


1755 


9 






125 


Dickinson 


Carlisle, Do 


1783 


4 






21 


Jefferson 


Canonsburg, Do 


1802 


7 


341 


130 


120 


Western University 


Pittsburg, Do 


1820 


4 


45 


13 


53 


Washington 


Washington, Do 


1806 


4 


143 


20 


47 


Allegheny 


Meadville, Do 


1815 


3 


9 







Madison 


Union Town, Do 


1829 


5 






70 


St Mary's* 


Baltimore, Maryland 


1799 


18 






147 


University of Maryland 


Do Do 


1812 


11 








St Johns 


Annapolis, Do 


1784 


5 


030 




76 


Mount St Mary's* 


Near Emmittsburg, Do 


1830 


25 


12 




130 


Columbian 


W^ashington, Capital 


1821 


4 






50 


Georgetown* 


Georgetown, Dist. Columbia 


1799 


19 






140 


William and Marj- 


Williamsburg, Virginia 


1093 


7 






60 


Hampden Sydney 


Prince Edward Colony, Do 


1774 


6 






54 


Washington 


Lexington, Do 


1812 




380 


9 


23 


University of Virginia 


Charlottesville, Do 


1819 


9 


538 




ISO 


University of North Carolina 


Chapel Hill, North Carolina 


1791 


9 


434 




69 


Charleston 


Charleston, South Carolina 


1785 


7 


27 


3 


01 


College of South Carolina 


Columbia, Do 


1801 


9 


490 


11 


111 


University of Georgia 


Athens, Georgia 


1785 


7 


250 


16 


95 


Alabama University 


Tuscaloosa, Alabama 


1820 


6 






65 


Jefferson 


Washington, .Mississippi 


1802 


10 






160 


Louisiana 


Jackson, Louisiana 












Greenville 


Greenville, Tennessee 


1794 








32 


University of Nashville 


Nashville, Do 


1806 


4 


93 




95 


E. Tennessee 


Knoxville, Do 




2 






21 


Transylvania 


Lexington, Kentucky 


1798 


6 






93 


Centre 


Danville, Do 


1822 


4 


19 


9 


60 


Augusta 


Augusta Do 


1823 


7 






98 


Cumberland 


Princeton, Do 


1825 


3 


13 


5 


57 


St Joseph's* 


Bardstown, Do 


1819 


15 


37 




150 


Georgetown 


Georgetown, Do 


1830 








32 


University of Ohio 


Athens, Ohio 


1802 


4 


60 


20 


57 


Miami University 


Oxford, Do 


1824 


11 


51 


9 


82 


Western Reserve 


Hudson, Do 


1826 


4 






25 



220 



Collesces in the United States. — Continued. 



Name. 


Place. 


~ c 
^1 


5 

c 


- 'c 

S — 




c 
1^ 


Kenyon 


Gambier, Do 


18-28 


4 






80 


Fraiikland 


New Athens, Do 


1824 


3 






40 


Indiana 


Blooniinaiton, Indiana 


IS'2- 


3 


4 




51 


lllinnis 


Jacksonville, Illinois 


1830 


3 






35 


St Louis* 


St Louis, iMo. 


1829 


6 






125 



N.B. Besides the Colleges enumerated in the above table, there are upwards of 
twenty Protestant, and several Catholic " Theological Seminaries," from sixteen to 
twenty " Medical Schools," and Law Schools in several states. 

Each of these institutions possesses a college library and a student's library. 

• Those marked thus * are Catholic colleges. 

t Under-graduates, not including medical, theological, and law students. 



TEXAS. 



This Mexican province, which is now becoming a subject of deep 
interest in the United States, is of great extent. Its boundaries and 
superficial contents are thus stated in Darby's Western Gazetteer, 
published in 1818. The Texas " is bounded on the west and south 
by the Rio del Porte, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, east by the 
state of Louisiana, and north by the Red River. Its greatest length 
is 800 miles, breadth 500, estimated by the rhombs on Mellish's Map 
to contain 240,000 square miles, and to be equal in extent to New 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and 
Kentucky." 

In another account it is stated, that the width is about 400 miles, 
and length, from the Gulf of Mexico to its northern limits, not as- 
certained. It is represented as being extremely fertile, producing a 
great variety of valuable timber trees, and in parts admirably adap- 
ted for the cultivation of sugar, cotton, indigo, «Stc.; in others, wheat, 
Indian corn, &c., and in others, excellent grazing, and generally fa- 
vourable to the growth of the vine. 



221 

The facilities for navigation are great; on one side the gulf of 
Mexico, and the interior traversed by the Sabine, the Natchez, the 
Trinity, the Brasos, the Bernard, the Colorado, the Rio Grande, and 
other streams of minor importance. Some of these streams admit 
of steam navigation for three or four hundred miles. Salt water and 
iron ore are abundant. Some mines of the precious metals are 
already discovered. Profusion of game and wild horses, mules and 
cattle, buffaloes, deer, turkeys, &c. 

Its population consists of about 75,000 Mexicans, including gar- 
risons, principally inhabiting tlie villages of St Antonio and Nacog- 
doches ; but the emigrants from the United States amount io Jive or 
six thousand souls : more than half of these are " located" on 
" Austin's land," the remainder principally occupy vngranted lands. 
An experience of seven or eight years has proved the soil and crops 
to be equal to those of any part of the v/orld. 

A writer in one of the best conducted papers in the United States 
(Walsh's National Gazette) thus significantly expresses himself with 
regard to the Texas: " The country above described, we contend, 
should belong to the United States if its procurement be possible." 
He then gives reasons for supposing its acquisition possible, — the 
financial embarrassment and unquiet state of the politics of Mexico, 
&c., and urges as motives for attempting its annexation to the 
United States, its being necessary to the security of Louisiana, 
Arkansa, &c. " ^11 Texas was once ours. The Rio Grande del 
Norte was then our western boundary. To any one acquainted 
with this country, it seems as if this river was designated by the 
hand of Heaven^ as a boundary between two great nations of dis- 
similar pursuits, &-C." And further, so important was it deemed 
by the American government to prevent contiguous settlements of 
the two governments, that in their negotiation with Spain in 1805, 
in relation to their western limits, it was urged by the United States 
to lay off a territory of immense extent, to remain for ever neutral 
and unsettled. (See Letter of Messrs Monroe and Pinchney to M. 
Cevallos, Spanish Minister. American State Papers, vol. xii. 243.) 
It is also urged, that the possession of the Texas is necessary, in 
order to prevent it from being a place of refuge for " debtors, male- 
factors, and fugitive slaves from the United States;" and that it is 
necessary, in order to keep Texas out of the hands of " those who 
would be more troublesome than its present proprietors :" this writer 



222 



says, that " a distinguished Englishman has already obtained a grant 
of land in Texas, sufficient to contain a population of one or two 
millions ;" " and who knows,'''' adds this sagacious politician, " that 
he is not the secret agent of a government ? The importance, also, 
of being able to supply the United States with wine and sugar at a 
future period from this magnificent province, is dwelt upon." 

The settlement of Americans in Texas goes by the name of Cap- 
tain Austin's territory, as that gentleman has obtained a grant, with 
some exclusive privileges of steam navigation from the Mexican 
government. 



Payment of the Debt of the United States. 





Principal. 


Interest. 


Total. 




Dollars. 


Dollars. 


])ollars. 


1821 


3,279,821 


5,087,272 


8,367,093 


1822 


2,675,987 


5,172,961 


7,848,949 


1823 


607,331 


4,922,684 


5,530,016 


1824 


11,574,532 


4,993,861 


16,568,393 


1825 


7,725,034 


4,370,309 


12,095,344 


1826 


7,706,601 


3,977,864 


11,045,466 


1827 


6,515,514 


3,476,071 


10,001,585 


1828 


9,064,637 


3,098,867 


12,163,505 


1829 


9,841,024 


2,542,776 


12,383,800 


1830 


9,443,173 


1,912,574 


11,355,748 



From Mr Cooper's Letter, published in Paris, containing' a counter state- 
ment to that in the Revue Britannique. 



223 



RATES OF POSTAGE. 



On a single letter composed of one piece of paper 

For any distance not exceeding 30 miles 
Over 30, and not exceeding' 80 
80, " " 150 

150, " " 400 

400, " . " 



6 cents. 
10 
12i 
18^ 

25 



(A cent is a small fraction more than a halfpenny, English.) 

A letter composed of two pieces of paper is charged with double 
these rates ; of three pieces, with triple ; and of four pieces, with 
quadruple. " One or more pieces of paper, mailed as a letter, and 
weighing one ounce, shall be charged with quadruple postage ; and 
at the same rate, should the weight be greater." 

NEWSPAPER POSTAGE. 

For each newspaper not carried out of the state in which it is 
published, or if carried out of the state, but not carried over 100 
miles, 1 cent ; over 100 miles, and out of the state in which it was 
published, 1^ cent. 

MAGAZINES AND PAMPHLETS. 

Cents. 
If published periodically, distance not exceeding 100 miles, li per sheet. 

" . over . 100 " 2i 

If not published periodically, dist. not exceeding 100 " 4 
" " . over . 100 " 6 

Every printed pamphlet or magazine which contains more than 
twenty-four pages, on a royal sheet, or any sheet of less dimensions, 
shall be charged by the sheet ; and small pamphlets, printed on " a 
half or quarter sheet, of royal or less size, shall be charged with half 
the amount of postage charged on a full sheet." 

The posta'ge on ship letters, if delivered at the office where the 
vessel arrives, is six cents; if conveyed by post, two cents in ad- 
dition to the ordinary postage. 



224 



PRIVILEGE OP FRANKING. 

Letters and packets to and from the following officers of the 
government, are by law received and conveyed by post, free of 
postage. 

The president and vice-president of the United States; secretaries 
of state, treasury, war, and navy; attorney-general; post-master- 
general, and assistant post-master-general; comptrollers, auditors, 
registrar, and solicitor of the treasui'y; treasurer; commissioner of 
the general land office; commissioners of the navy board; commiss- 
ary-general; inspectors-general; quarter-master-generalj paymaster- 
general; superintendent of the Patent Office; speaker and clerk of 
the House of Representatives; president and secretary of the Senate; 
and any individual who shall have been, or may hereafter be, pre- 
sident of the United States; and each may receive newspapers by 
post, free of postage. 

Each member of the senate, and each member and delegate of 
the House of Representatives, may send and receive, free of postage, 
newspapers, letters, and packets, weighing not more than two 
ounces (in case of excess of weight, excess alone to be paid for), 
and all documents printed by order of either House, during and 
sixty days before and after each session of congress. 

Post-masters may send and receive, free of postage, letters and 
packets not exceeding half an ounce in weight; and they may re- 
ceive one daily newspaper each, or what is equivalent thereto. 

Printers of newspapers may send one paper to each and every 
other printer of newspapers within the United States, free of postage, 
under such regulations as the post-master-general may provide. 



£25 



NEWSPAPERS IN NEW YORK. 

Number of newspapers published in this state, according to 
" Williams's New York Annual Register," in 1831, was 237; 54 in 
city of New York, and 185 in other parts of the statej 16 daily, and 
48 avowedly anti-masonic* 

NUMBER OF SHEETS ISSUED FR03I THE FIFTY-FOUR PRESSES IN THE 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 

Eleven daily papers (average 1,456 each in one day) . 4,944,000 

Ten semi- weekly ditto (average 1,880 each in one day) . . 1,955,200 

Twenty-six weekly ditto 2,600,000 

Six semi-monthly, and one monthly 36,800 



Total number of sheets printed annually . . 9,536,000 

Estimated number (1S5 papers) in other parts of the state . 5,000,000 

Total 14,536,000 



COPYRIGHT. 

Copyright is secured in the United States for fourteen years, 
by depositing and recording the title of any work, map, chart, &,c. 
at the office of the clerk of the district; and can be renewed by the 
author, his executors or assigns, at the .end of that term, for a fur- 
ther period of fourteen years. — Vide '^jict for the Encouragement 
of Learning. " Judge Story'' s Statutes of the United States. 

* This has now become a party watch-word, but originated in a just feeling of 
detestation at a murderous outrage committed by some free-masons a few years 
ago. 



2d 



226 



Number of Bishops in the United States, and their Residences, or 

Diocesses. 

SIXTEEN PROTESTANT BISHOPS: — viz. 

Diocesses. Diocesses. 

Eastern Diocess, or N. England. Virginia. 

Connecticut. South Carolina. 

New York. Georgia. 

New Jersey. Louisiana. 

Pennsylvania. Mississippi, 

Delaware. Tennessee. 

Maryland. Kentucky. 

North Carolina. Ohio. 



Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



EOMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS. 



Residence. 




Residence. 




Baltimore - 


Archbishop. 


Mobile - ■ 


- Bishop. 


Boston 


Bishop. 


New Orleans 


Do. 


New York - 


Do. 


Bardstown - 


Do. 


Philadelphia 


Do. 


Do. 


- Coadjutor. 


Do. 


Coadjutor. 


Cincinnati 


- Bishop. 


Charleston - 


Bishop. 


St Louis 


Do. 



One Archbishop, nine Bishops, and two Coadjutors. 



THE END 



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BINDERY INC. 



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INDIANA 46962 




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